Vaccine hesitancy and illness perceptions: comparing parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to other parent groups

ABSTRACT

Fears persist despite compelling evidence refuting associations between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We compared vaccine hesitancy (VH) and beliefs about illness causes among parents of children in four groups: ASD, non-ASD developmental disorders, rheumatologic conditions, and the general pediatric population. VH was 19.9% overall; parents of children with ASD reported highest VH rates (29.5%) and more frequently attributed ASD to toxins in vaccines (28.9% vs. 15.7%, p = .004). The odds of VH were increased among parents who attributed their child’s condition to diet or eating habits (aOR 4.2; 95% CI: 1.6, 11.2) and toxins found in vaccines (aOR 20, 95% CI: 7.1, 55.9). Parents who attributed the condition to chance or bad luck were less likely to be vaccine hesitant (aOR 0.1; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.5).

Disclosure Statement

Robin P. Goin-Kochel is contracted with Yamo Pharmaceuticals, LLC, to consult on clinical-trial research design.

Notes

¹ All children presenting for clinical care at the Texas Children’s Hospital Autism Center are invited upon check-in to enroll in the Center’s research database, regardless of diagnosis.

² Among those invited from the Autism Center’s research database to participate in the current study, final diagnosis (ASD or non-ASD-DD) was determined via review of the electronic medical record after survey submission; therefore, frequencies of ASD versus non-ASD-DD diagnoses were not examined for nonparticipants in the Center’s database.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the William Stamps Farish Foundation (no number) and through in-kind funding from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, and University of Houston. Dr. Goin-Kochel is also partially supported through the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center [1U54 HD083092] at Baylor College of Medicine.