Association between breast-feeding and severity of acute viral respiratory tract infection

Shanda Vereen1, Tebeb Gebretsadik, Tina V Hartert

  • 1From the *Department of Pediatrics; †Division of General Pediatrics; ‡Center for Asthma and Environmental Health Research; §Department of Biostatistics; ¶Department of Medicine; and ‖Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN.

In a cross-sectional analysis of 629 mother-infants dyads, breast-feeding (ever vs. never) was associated with decreased relative odds of a lower versus upper respiratory tract infection (adjusted odds ratio: 0.64; 95% confidence interval: 0.42-0.99). There was not a significant association between breast-feeding and bronchiolitis severity score or length of hospital stay.

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