Swine Flu Vaccine Linked to Sleep Disorder Risk in Children

The swine flu vaccine may be causing narcolepsy in children, according to a new study. The findings were announced after researchers found that the vaccination was associated with a 14 to 16- fold increase in likelihood of developing the chronic sleep disorder.

Swine flu, known as the H1N1 influenza virus, was at its height between October 2009 and March 2010. It spread across the globe as children and adults hurried to receive the vaccination. In England, more than 850,000 children received the shot. Yet for every 55,000 doses that were delivered, about one child developed the condition that causes excessive sleepiness.

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes frequent daytime sleep attacks. It tends to run in families, but the exact cause of it is unknown. In some patients, it's linked to reduced amounts of a protein called hypocretin, which is made in the brain; there's also the possibility that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder. In addition to sleepiness, the disorder can cause dream-like hallucinations and sleep paralysis that can last up to fifteen minutes.

The research itself, published in the British Medical Journal, examined 75 children between the ages of four and 18 who were diagnosed with narcolepsy from January 2008. They found that 11 of these children had received the vaccine, Pandemrix, before the symptoms began. After adjusting for clinical conditions, the scientists found that the vaccination caused about a 14-fold increased risk of narcolepsy.

While these findings are certainly relevant for children in the UK, those in the U.S. shouldn't panic just yet. The H1N1 flu vaccine that was used in the U.S. didn't carry the AS03 adjuvant that was associated with the narcolepsy risk, and there haven't been any reports of the condition occurring after receiving the vaccine.

These findings are likely to help parents who are currently seeking damages for their children after they were diagnosed with narcolepsy. One mother, Caroline Hadfield, is suing the government after her son, Josh, developed the condition within weeks of being vaccinated.

A Department of Health spokesman said in an interview with The Telegraph, "We keep all emerging evidence under review and that's why the use of Pandemrix in those less than 20 years old was stopped in the UK in 2011."