from Medscape; printed here for those w/o access to that:
http://pediatrics.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/11/11.20/20001117epid004.ht
ml
Warmly,
Anna Swisher
Austin, TX
=========================
Breastfeeding Appears Protective Against Childhood Asthma
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WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Nov 20 - Results of a study of more than 5000
Brazilian schoolchildren indicate that many breastfed children are less
likely than others to have asthma or wheezing disorders.
Reporting in the October issue of the Journal of Asthma, Dr. Isabelle
Romieu, of the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Morelos, Mexico, and
colleagues elsewhere note that they sought to examine the association
between breastfeeding and chronic respiratory disorders in children.
The researchers examined questionnaires completed by 5182 Brazilian
schoolchildren (ages 7 to 14) and their parents. Of these, 4.6% reported
medically diagnosed asthma and 11.9% reported current wheeze.
A total of 90% of the children had been breastfed, and after adjusting for
confounders, the researchers found that children who had not been breastfed
were 1.51 times more likely to have an asthma diagnosis, 1.29 times more
likely to experience current wheeze and 1.51 times more likely to have
wheeze after exercise than those who had been breastfed for at least six
months.
However, this protective effect was observed "only among children with no
family history of asthma," and, say the investigators, "we did not observe a
dose-response relationship with duration of breastfeeding."
The researchers call for further studies, but the low prevalence of asthma
and wheezing seen in the studied population, they conclude, "may be partly
related to the high level of breastfeeding."
J Asthma 2000;37:575-583.
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