Published online July 3, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 1 July 2006, pp. e92-e99 (doi:10.1542/10.1542/peds.2005-1629)
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Full Breastfeeding and Hospitalization as a Result of Infections in the First Year of Life

José María Paricio Talayero, MD, PhDa, Máxima Lizán-García, MD, PhDb, Ángel Otero Puime, MD, PhDc, María José Benlloch Muncharaz, MDa, Beatriz Beseler Soto, MDa, Marta Sánchez-Palomares, MDa, Luis Santos Serrano, MDa and Leonardo Landa Rivera, MDa

a Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Marina Alta, Denia (Alicante), Spain
b Departamento de Epidemiología y Demografía, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain
c Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

OBJECTIVE. Our objective was to assess the effect of breastfeeding on the probability of hospitalization as a result of infectious processes during the first year of life

METHODS. We followed 1385 infants from birth to age 1 year between 1996 and 1999. Recruitment and data collection were done at the 6-month well-infant visit under the National Child Health Program. Full breastfeeding, hospital admission, and other relevant variables related to the delivery, infant, mother, health services system, and sociologic aspects were recorded. The statistical analysis included Kaplan-Meier test, Cox regression to obtain the hazard ratio, and the adjusted attributable risk.

RESULTS. Full breastfeeding at discharge after delivery and at 3, 4, and 6 months of age were 85%, 52%, 41%, and 15%, respectively; 78 hospital admissions as a result of infections were recorded (38 respiratory tract, 16 gastrointestinal tract). Mean age at admission was 4.1 months. After estimating the attributable risk, it was found that 30% of hospital admissions would have been avoided for each additional month of full breastfeeding. Seemingly, 100% of full breastfeeding among 4-month-old infants would avoid 56% of hospital admissions in infants who are younger than 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS. On the basis of the present data, we conclude that full breastfeeding would lower the risk for hospital admission as a result of infections among infants who are younger than 1 year within an industrialized country.

as well as industrialized nations. {ddagger}

Key Words: full breastfeeding • hospitalization • infections • respiratory infections • gastroenteritis • Kaplan-Meier • Cox regression • hazard ratio • attributable risk

Abbreviations: FB—full breastfeeding • WHO—World Health Organization • OR—odds ratio • CI—confidence interval

Accepted Jan 17, 2006.


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