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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association International Journal of Epidemiology 2010;39:i48i55
The Author 2010; all rights reserved. doi:10.1093/ije/dyq021
i48
EFFECTIVENESS OF MEASLES VACCINATION AND VITAMIN A TREATMENT i49
and monitoring vaccination coverage.2 In addition, languages.15 The search terms for measles vaccine
the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on studies included combinations of measles vaccine,
Immunization recently put forth a global recommen- trial, effect , effica , mortality, and non-specific.
dation that all children should receive 2 doses of The vitamin A treatment search terms included: vita-
measles vaccine.3 Maintaining high vaccination cover- min A, trial, effect , effica , mortality and mea-
age is also central to measles control efforts in coun- sles. Studies abstracted for analysis included
tries with relatively low measles burden, and many of randomized controlled trials (RCT) and quasi-experi-
these countries will need to increase coverage in order mental (QE) studies due to a priori knowledge of
to reach measles elimination goals. these high-quality studies. Observational studies
The effectiveness of measles vaccination is based on were included in the all-cause mortality analysis for
several host and vaccine factors.4 The most important measles vaccine due to minimal data from RCTs or
factors are age at vaccination and receipt of a second QE studies. Three studies reported data for two dis-
dose.5 WHO recommends first dose measles vaccina- tinct study cohorts using different methods; therefore
tion at 9 months of age in many developing countries we chose to analyse the cohorts separately and when
with a high risk of measles morbidity and mortality referencing these studies denote cohort a and b.16
during the first year of life.6 Since 2000, the WHO has 18
If two or more studies presented data for the same
also recommended that all children receive a second population during the same time period, the most
opportunity for measles vaccination.2 Most developed applicable study based on methods and analysis was
countries with low levels of measles transmission
study quality and quantitative measures according to vaccination status, an RCT that administered
standard guidelines15 for each outcome. The CHERG immunoglobulin to children in contact with measles,
Rules for Evidence Review20 were applied to the col- a QE study where a proportion of measles vaccine
lective measles vaccine and vitamin A treatment data administered was not potent due to improper storage,
to generate estimates for the effect on measles and a QE study which did not publish the number of
mortality. trial participants or confidence interval.16b,43,44,18b The
five remaining studies, three RCTs and two QE stu-
dies, found that a single dose of measles vaccine
reduced measles disease by 85% (95% CI 8387)
(Figure 1).16a,21,42,18a,45
Results A total of 270 titles were identified for evaluation of
We identified 3179 titles from searches in all data- vitamin A treatment. We included seven studies, six
bases for measles vaccine. After screening, we RCTs and one QE, in the final database for vitamin A
included three studies with measles-specific mortality treatment of measles4652 (Supplementary Table 2).
data,16a,16b,21 23 studies of all-cause mortal- The Ellison study was excluded from meta-analyses
ity,16b,17,2241 and nine studies which reported measles
disease as an outcome16a,16b,18,21,4245 in the final
database (Supplementary Table 1). In Table 1, we
report the quality assessment of measles vaccine stu-
considered weaker sources of evidence in comparison The effect of a second dose of measles vaccine
to RCTs. Furthermore, a pooled estimate of well- on measles disease or mortality compared with no
conducted observational studies would likely underes- vaccination has not been evaluated on individual
timate the true efficacy of measles vaccine. A substan- children in prospective randomized studies as this
tial proportion of published observational studies were type of trial would be unethical. Therefore, the best
conducted during measles outbreaks which can occur estimate of the effect of a two-dose measles vaccine
as a result of decreased vaccine efficacy attributable schedule on measles mortality must be extrapolated
to improper vaccine storage or vaccination of children from serology data, studies looking at effectiveness
before recommended age.5 of two dose vs one-dose measles vaccination, and
Our effect estimate is consistent with the Cutts observational studies. Caution should be taken when
serology review which estimated seroconversion using serology data to estimate the impact on mortal-
rates of 85% when vaccine is administered prior ity. A recent WHO review of serology studies deter-
to one year and the Singh review which estimated mined that a median 97% [inter-quartile range (IQR)
effectiveness of 8590% based on feasibility studies 87100%] of children that failed to seroconvert to first
conducted in India.10,11 Our effect findings and corre- dose measles vaccine developed immunity after a
sponding uncertainty are applicable to real world second dose.64 If 85% efficacy is assumed for single
vaccine programmes in developing countries as dose measles vaccine, these serology results would
children are vaccinated at a wide range of ages. correlate to an efficacy of 99.6% for two dose measles
vaccine with a range of 98.1100% based on the IQR
Measles Vaccine
Measles Mortality
3 Studies; 14 events Under 50 Events
***High quality evidence of
morbidity reduction: Relative Benefit of 91% (95% CI: 50 to 98)
Highly Plausible Effect
All Cause Mortality Low Quality
3 Studies; 461 events
Relative Benefit of 43% (95% CI: 29 to 54)
Measles Disease
6 Studies; 2441 events Rule 7: APPLY
Relative Benefit of 85% (95% CI: 83 to 87)
The results of our review, which are the default of Experts, November 2008conclusions and recommen-
effectiveness values included in LiST, are summarized dations. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 2009;84(14):116.
4
in Figure 3. Our results support the current strategy Hayden GF. Measles vaccine failure: a survey of causes
of WHO/UNICEF to reduce measles mortality and means of prevention. Clin Pediatr 1979;18:155567.
5
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age of measles vaccine and vitamin A in addition Plotkin SA, Orenstein WA (eds). Vaccines. 8th ed.
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to be within reach and hopefully with offering two measles control. Bull World Health Organ 1991;69:17.
7
dose measles vaccine in the South-East Asian region WHO/UNICEF/IVAGG Task Force. Vitamin A
a 90% reduction in measles mortality will be SupplementsA Guide to Their Use in The Treatment and
accomplished. Prevention of Vitamin A Deficiency and Xerophthalmia.
Geneva: WHO, 1997.
8
Beaton GH, Martorell R, Aronson KJ et al. Effectiveness of
Supplementary data vitamin A supplementation in the control of young child
morbidity and mortality in developing countries. ACC/
Supplementary data are available at IJE online. SCN State-of-the-art Series 1993; Vol. Nutrition Policy
Discussion Paper no 13.
9
Imdad A, Yakoob MY, Sudfeld CR, Haider BA, Black RE,
Bhutta ZA. Impact of vitamin A supplementation
Funding on infant and childhood mortality. IJE 2010, in
US Fund for UNICEF from the Bill & Melinda Gates supplement.
10
Foundation [Grant 43386]. Singh J, Datta KK. Measles vaccine efficacy in India: a
review. J Commun Dis 1997;29:4756.
Conflict of interest: None declared. 11
Cutts FT, Grabowsky M, Markowitz LE. The effect of dose
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