Children from regions with high vaccination rates, particularly for hepatitis B and polio, appear to have a 30 percent to 40 percent lower chance of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a form of leukemia common in childhood, suggests a new study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas looked at 2,800 children who were diagnosed with cancer between the ages of two and 17. For each child with a cancer diagnosis, researchers then identified four others of the same age and sex who had not received any such diagnosis.
They then looked back to the counties where these children lived, and identified a correlation between vaccination rates and cancer diagnoses: the children without cancer tended to be from counties with higher vaccination rates, especially for hepatitis B and polio.
"People can take a step back and really look at the benefit that vaccines provide — not just for the infectious diseases they were intended to prevent. Now, there appears to be some other added benefit," said Michael Scheurer, one of the study authors.