Breast Feeding and Lower Respiratory Tract Illness in the First Year of Life

ABSTRACT

Breast feeding is one of many factors that have been associated with the development of lower respiratory tract illnesses. To assess the relation between breast feeding and subsequent experience of lower respiratory tract illness, we performed this study, retrospectively, on 366 infants who had been admitted to the pediatric ward, St. Francisco General Hospital, or had been brought to the well baby clinic from November, 1992 to March, 1993. The results were as foolows 1) Among 366 infants, the number of all first illnesses observed at each interval were 259 cases (70.8%), of which 198 (54.1%) were associated with wheezing illnesses and 61 (16.7%) with non-wheezing lower respiratory illnesses. 2) Duration of breast feeding regardless of-whether other foods were given, was categorized as 3 grups, i. e., none or for less than a month (group), one to 4 months (group B), and 4 or more months (group C). Incidences of wheezing illnesses in the first 4 months of life were lower in group B(10.1%) and group C (8.4%) than group A (27.3%), respectively (p<0.01). Wheezing illnesses beyond 4 months of life and non-wheezing illnesses in all intervals seemed to be unrelated to the duration of breast feeding. 3) Considering a variety of other fisk factors, including sharing a room, parental childhood reapiratory trouble, sex and maternal education, children who received minimal breast feeding (group A) had the greater risk of early wheezing illnesses in the simultaneous exposure to sharing a room than group B and C (p<0.005). Our results suggest that decreased breast feeding is associated with a higher incidence of wheezing illnesses in the first 4 months of life, particularly in combination with other risk factors, such as sharing a room.