I apologize if this is old news to everyone as I am set to nomail due to
workload, new home, pregnancy.... I just saw this.
Breast-Feeding Tied to Adverse Outcomes for HIV-Infected Mothers and
Their Infants
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) May 24 - Among HIV-infected mothers, those
who breast-feed their infants are over three times more likely to die
within 2 years of giving birth than those who formula feed, according to
a report published in the May 26th issue of The Lancet. In addition,
infants with deceased mothers are much more likely to die than infants
with living mothers.
Dr. Ruth Nduati, from the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and colleagues
randomized 425 HIV-1-infected pregnant women to breast-feed or
formula-feed their infants. The mother-infant pairs were followed
monthly during the first year of the study and quarterly during the
second year.
Significantly more maternal deaths occurred in the breast-feeding group
than in the formula-feeding group, the authors state. At 2 years
postpartum, 10.5% of breast-feeding mothers were dead, compared with
only 3.8% of formula-feeding mothers. Breast-feeding mothers were 3.2
times more likely to die than formula-feeding mothers, the researchers
note. The attributable maternal death risk due to breast--feeding was
nearly 70%.
Infants whose mothers died within the 2-year postpartum period were
about eight times more likely to die than infants with living mothers,
the researchers determined.
The authors offer two possible explanations for the findings. "First,
the combined metabolic burdens of HIV-1 infection and breast-feeding in
a population that has inadequate nutritional intake could result in
substantial nutritional impairment," they state. The second possibility
is that "lactation might affect HIV-1 replication."
The current findings have "important implications for public health
policy," the researchers note. "Our results lend support to the aim of
offering HIV-1 tests to all pregnant women to ensure that infected women
are identified and counseled. Counseling, with respect to infant feeding
choices, should include discussion of potential risks to the mother's
health from breast-feeding as well as the risk of transmitting HIV-1 to
the infant."
Lancet 2001;357:1651-1655.
I am curious how they randomized the mothers into you will and you will
not breastfeed. Certainly would like details on this research study as
we can't just ignore it.
Judy Rosen-Klauber, MSN, RNC, IBCLC, CLC
(mother to Kai, breastfed 2.5 yrs, and expecting number 2 next month)
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