DPT vaccination complications in children up to 6 years of age in Tehran

The expanded global use of vaccines has led to eradication of some contagious diseases in children. This should not lead to forget the fact that these vaccines can be associated by complications and side effects. We studied 450 children, who had received DPT vaccine at the age of under 6 years. 2 to 7 days after the DPT injection we could not observe any seriously dangerous complication, although 82.4% of the children had general and 83% local complications. Fever with a frequency of 73% was the most frequency observed general complication, this was followed by lethargy, loss of appetite, and persisted crying. The most frequency observed local complication consisted of pain at the site of injection with 63% of cases followed by swelling, erythema and induration. By increasing age, local swelling and erythema increases (P<0.001) and induration decreases (P<0.001). General complications decreases with increasing age and vaccinations, which is especially remarkable in 2 to 7 year old children (5th vaccination).