Routine childhood vaccinations are frequently given during this time, which has sparked public and scientific interest in the possible link between epilepsy risk and vaccination status or cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccines. Although aluminum-based adjuvants are utilized to boost immune responses, research on their neurodevelopmental safety at young ages is still ongoing. Thus, this study evaluated any possible correlations between epilepsy and cumulative exposure of aluminum from immunizations for children under 4 years old or their current vaccination status.
From 2008 to 2018, researchers carried out a case-control analysis in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) cohort. Cases of epilepsy up to the age of four were detected using diagnosis codes and prescriptions for antiseizure drugs. Before the age of four, the controls did not have any diagnoses for epilepsy or seizures, nor did they take any antiseizure drugs. Up to ten controls were matched with each case. Birthdate, sex, and VSD site were used to match cases and controls.
Age-specific, current vaccination status categories and continuous, cumulative aluminum concentration per adjuvant formulation from immunization were the exposures. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the related risk of epilepsy were estimated using conditional logistic regression. Secondary analyses were restricted to children with epilepsy of uncertain aetiology and carried out by age subgroups.
There were 20,139 matched controls and 2,089 cases in the primary analysis. Neither cumulative exposure to aluminum per mg increase per adjuvant formulation nor current immunization status had an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for epilepsy risk that was higher than 1.
Analysis by age group or restriction to children with epilepsy of unknown cause did not reveal any statistically significant association. Overall, the risk of epilepsy in children under four years old was not shown to be associated with normal childhood vaccines, including vaccine adjuvants containing aluminum.
Source:
McClure, D. L., Hanson, K. E., Sundaram, M. E., Kieke, B. A., Duffy, J., McNeil, M. M., Glanz, J. M., Irving, S. A., Williams, J. T. B., Kharbanda, E. O., Xu, S., Zerbo, O., Nelson, J. C., Belongia, E. A., & Weintraub, E. S. (2026). Incident epilepsy and vaccination status or vaccine aluminum exposure in children under age 4. The Journal of Pediatrics, 115004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2026.115004
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