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Atopic disease and breast-feeding--cause or consequence?

Adrian J Lowe1, John B Carlin, Catherine M Bennett

  • 1Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, and the Department of Allergy, Royal Children's Hospital, Australia. ajlowe@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
|March 9, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Infants with early signs of atopic disease, like eczema, may breastfeed exclusively for longer. This finding suggests that breast-feeding might not increase asthma or eczema risk, but rather the disease itself influences feeding duration.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Studies suggest a link between breast-feeding and increased risk of childhood asthma and eczema.
  • This association may be explained by mothers prolonging breast-feeding due to early infant atopic disease symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if early atopic disease symptoms or sensitization influence the cessation of breast-feeding.
  • To determine if eczema, food reactions, or asthma in infants affect breast-feeding duration.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective birth cohort study of 620 infants in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Telephone interviews conducted every 4 weeks until 64 weeks, and at 78 and 104 weeks.
  • Cox models used to analyze time-varying covariates for atopic symptoms and breast-feeding duration (exclusive and total).

Main Results:

  • Only 8.4% of infants did not establish breast-feeding; 25.0% did not establish exclusive breast-feeding.
  • Early atopic disease signs or sensitization were linked to a 28% reduced risk of ceasing exclusive breast-feeding (aHR=0.72, P=.029).
  • No significant association was found between early atopic disease and the risk of ceasing breast-feeding completely (aHR=1.12, P=.262).

Conclusions:

  • Early atopic disease symptoms may lead to prolonged exclusive breast-feeding.
  • This prolonged feeding could mask a protective effect of breast-feeding or falsely associate it as a risk factor for atopic diseases.
  • Future research should account for this potential confounding factor when examining breast-feeding and atopic disease relationships.
Abstract

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