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DTaP vaccine in thigh led to fewer local reactions
Infants and toddlers who received diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine in the thigh reported fewer medically attended local reactions compared with children aged 12 to 35 months who received the vaccine in the arm, according to study results published online.
Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH, of the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of children in the Vaccine Safety Datalink population from 2002 to 2009 that included 1.4 million children aged 1 to 6 years who received 6 million intramuscular injections. The researchers identified through administrative data the injection site and the outcome of medically attended local reactions.
Jackson and colleagues found that local reactions were less common in children who received other intramuscular injections, including hepatitis A and influenza vaccines. In addition, there was no significant difference in the risk of local reactions in children who received these other injections in the arm vs. the thigh.
The researchers said their findings may have implications for older children as well, and the thigh may be a preferable injection site for DTaP vaccine in children aged 3 to 6 years.
Jackson and colleagues noted some study limitations, specifically that the reactions were not validated, so some events may have been misclassified.
Disclosure: Jackson reports receiving research funding from GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi-Pasteur, and has received travel support from Pfizer to present findings from an unrelated study.
Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH, can be reached at Group Health Research Institute, 1730 Minor Ave., Suite 1600, Seattle, WA 98101.
