BMJ 2014;349:g5283 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g5283 (Published 21 August 2014)
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NEWS Parents who refuse vitamin K for newborns are also likely to refuse vaccinations, Canadian study finds Michael McCarthy Seattle
Parents who declined vitamin K prophylaxis for their newborns were more likely to have had their child at home, to have had the child delivered by a midwife, and subsequently to decline to have their children vaccinated, a Canadian study has found.1 The researchers said that the findings should help identify those parents who are skeptical about vitamin K prophylaxis so that they can be counseled about its benefits and to identify those who may be reluctant to have their children vaccinated.
Newborns are often deficient in vitamin K, which is essential for the activation of coagulation factors VII, IX, X, and prothrombin. The deficiency puts them at risk of a rare bleeding disorder, called vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which can have severe complications, including brain damage from intracranial hemorrhage. The deficiency can be remedied easily with a single dose of intramuscular vitamin K administered shortly after birth. Although pediatricians have long recommended supplementation, a small but growing number of parents are refusing the treatment, often citing concerns over safety.
In the study, published in Pediatrics on 18 August, researchers conducted a retrospective, population based cohort study of infants born in Alberta, Canada, between 2006 and 2012 for whom information was available.
The researchers, Shannon MacDonald of the University of Alberta in Edmonton and colleagues, found that of the 282 378 children in the cohort, 281 472 (99.7%) received vitamin K prophylaxis and just 906 (0.3%) didn’t, because their parents declined. However, there was a small but significant rise in the refusal rate over the study period, from 0.21% in 2006 to 0.39% in 2012 (P
Page 1 of 1
News
NEWS Parents who refuse vitamin K for newborns are also likely to refuse vaccinations, Canadian study finds Michael McCarthy Seattle
Parents who declined vitamin K prophylaxis for their newborns were more likely to have had their child at home, to have had the child delivered by a midwife, and subsequently to decline to have their children vaccinated, a Canadian study has found.1 The researchers said that the findings should help identify those parents who are skeptical about vitamin K prophylaxis so that they can be counseled about its benefits and to identify those who may be reluctant to have their children vaccinated.
Newborns are often deficient in vitamin K, which is essential for the activation of coagulation factors VII, IX, X, and prothrombin. The deficiency puts them at risk of a rare bleeding disorder, called vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which can have severe complications, including brain damage from intracranial hemorrhage. The deficiency can be remedied easily with a single dose of intramuscular vitamin K administered shortly after birth. Although pediatricians have long recommended supplementation, a small but growing number of parents are refusing the treatment, often citing concerns over safety.
In the study, published in Pediatrics on 18 August, researchers conducted a retrospective, population based cohort study of infants born in Alberta, Canada, between 2006 and 2012 for whom information was available.
The researchers, Shannon MacDonald of the University of Alberta in Edmonton and colleagues, found that of the 282 378 children in the cohort, 281 472 (99.7%) received vitamin K prophylaxis and just 906 (0.3%) didn’t, because their parents declined. However, there was a small but significant rise in the refusal rate over the study period, from 0.21% in 2006 to 0.39% in 2012 (P
