Breastfeeding and reported morbidity in infancy: findings from the Southampton Women's Survey study group
Breastfeeding and reported morbidity in infancy: findings from the Southampton Women's Survey study group
A number of studies in developed countries suggest that breastfeeding protects against infections in infancy. However, the choice to breastfeed is often related to maternal characteristics, and many of these studies are limited in the extent to which they can take account of confounding influences. In a prospective birth cohort study, we assessed the relationship between the duration of breastfeeding and the prevalence of lower respiratory tract infections, ear infections and gastrointestinal morbidity during the first year of life in 1764 infants.
We considered the duration of all breastfeeding, including mixed feeding. Eighty-one per cent of the infants were breastfed initially, and 25% were breastfed up to 6 months. There were graded decreases in the prevalence of respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms between birth and 6 months as breastfeeding duration increased; these were robust to adjustment for a number of confounding factors. The adjusted relative risks (95% confidence interval) for infants breastfed for six or more months compared with infants who were never breastfed were 0.72 (0.58–0.89), 0.43 (0.30–0.61) and 0.60 (0.39–0.92) for general respiratory morbidity, diarrhoea and vomiting, respectively.
Duration of breastfeeding in the second half of infancy was less strongly related to diagnosed respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal morbidity, although important benefits of breastfeeding were still seen. Our data provide strong support for a protective role of breastfeeding against respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in infancy. The graded inverse associations with breastfeeding duration suggest that current efforts to promote breastfeeding and increase duration will have important effects in reducing morbidity in infancy.
breastfeeding duration, nutrition, gastrointestinal morbidity, respiratory infection, infants
61-70
Fisk, Catherine M.
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Crozier, Sarah R.
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Inskip, Hazel M.
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Godfrey, Keith M.
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Cooper, Cyrus
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Roberts, Graham C.
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Robinson, Sian M.
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January 2011
Fisk, Catherine M.
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Crozier, Sarah R.
f725a749-98a7-47ba-aa6b-8d8e17c72cad
Inskip, Hazel M.
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Godfrey, Keith M.
0931701e-fe2c-44b5-8f0d-ec5c7477a6fd
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Roberts, Graham C.
ea00db4e-84e7-4b39-8273-9b71dbd7e2f3
Robinson, Sian M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Fisk, Catherine M., Crozier, Sarah R., Inskip, Hazel M., Godfrey, Keith M., Cooper, Cyrus, Roberts, Graham C. and Robinson, Sian M.
(2011)
Breastfeeding and reported morbidity in infancy: findings from the Southampton Women's Survey study group.
Maternal & Child Nutrition, 7 (1), .
(doi:10.1111/j.1740-8709.2010.00241.x).
Abstract
A number of studies in developed countries suggest that breastfeeding protects against infections in infancy. However, the choice to breastfeed is often related to maternal characteristics, and many of these studies are limited in the extent to which they can take account of confounding influences. In a prospective birth cohort study, we assessed the relationship between the duration of breastfeeding and the prevalence of lower respiratory tract infections, ear infections and gastrointestinal morbidity during the first year of life in 1764 infants.
We considered the duration of all breastfeeding, including mixed feeding. Eighty-one per cent of the infants were breastfed initially, and 25% were breastfed up to 6 months. There were graded decreases in the prevalence of respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms between birth and 6 months as breastfeeding duration increased; these were robust to adjustment for a number of confounding factors. The adjusted relative risks (95% confidence interval) for infants breastfed for six or more months compared with infants who were never breastfed were 0.72 (0.58–0.89), 0.43 (0.30–0.61) and 0.60 (0.39–0.92) for general respiratory morbidity, diarrhoea and vomiting, respectively.
Duration of breastfeeding in the second half of infancy was less strongly related to diagnosed respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal morbidity, although important benefits of breastfeeding were still seen. Our data provide strong support for a protective role of breastfeeding against respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in infancy. The graded inverse associations with breastfeeding duration suggest that current efforts to promote breastfeeding and increase duration will have important effects in reducing morbidity in infancy.
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 March 2010
Published date: January 2011
Keywords:
breastfeeding duration, nutrition, gastrointestinal morbidity, respiratory infection, infants
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Local EPrints ID: 152067
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/152067
ISSN: 1740-8695
PURE UUID: 16bf0410-3834-4c5c-8013-20662eb9d44a
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Date deposited: 13 May 2010 11:06
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:01
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Author:
Catherine M. Fisk
Author:
Sarah R. Crozier
Author:
Sian M. Robinson
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