MMR booster ‘unlikely to worsen disease activity’ in children with arthritis

   Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can receive booster doses of the MMR vaccine without any worsening of their disease activity, suggests research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A team from The Netherlands divided 137 children with JIA (aged 4–9 years) into two groups. Half received the MMR booster vaccine and the other half received no injection.

There was little change in the juvenile arthritis disease activity score of either group, and little difference in the number of disease flares.

Experts had worried that because the MMR immunisation contains live vaccines, it could put children with arthritis at risk of infection because their immune systems could be less able to fight off pathogens. The current study goes some way to alleviate those fears.

“The safety of MMR vaccination has been questioned because disease flares have been described after MMR vaccination,” comment the authors. “Our trial does not show an effect of vaccination on disease activity.”

Larger studies are needed to confirm the effects of MMR vaccination in children using biologic therapies to treat their arthritis.