WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – The results of a population-based study indicate that breastfeeding for more than 9 months protects children from developing asthma and wheeze, Canadian researchers report in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine for November.
Drs. Sharon Dell and Teresa To from The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, collected data on 2184 children 12 to 24 months of age who were registered in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. The researchers assessed data on breastfeeding, asthma and wheeze within this cohort.
Among the children in the study the prevalence of asthma and wheeze was 6.3% and 23.9%, respectively. Forty-four percent of the children were breastfed for less than 2 months, the researchers report.
Breastfeeding for less than 9 months was associated with a risk of developing asthma (odds ratio 2.39) and wheeze (odds ratio 1.54), after adjusting for smoking, low birthweight, low maternal education, and sex, Drs. Dell and To note. There was a dose-response effect between asthma and wheeze and the duration of breastfeeding, they add.
"The exact cutoff point for protection from breastfeeding cannot be established from this study," the investigators write. Based on the available evidence, they suggest breastfeeding exerts "a continuous effect that becomes meaningful at a population level after at least 4 to 6 months of breastfeeding."
Drs. Dell and To conclude that the "study supports the saying that 'breast is best.' Strengthening public health efforts to increase the rates and duration of breastfeeding may help decrease asthma and wheeze prevalence and related morbidity in young children."
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2001;155:1261-1265.
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