Exposure to breastfeeding and risk of developing multiple sclerosis

Early-life factors are reported to modulate the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) among adults. The association between exposure to breastfeeding and the risk of MS is debated. We aimed to disclose whether past exposure to breastfeeding and its duration are associated with the risk of developing MS.

We used a cohort design linking prospectively collected information on breastfeeding from the Cohort of Norway community-based surveys on health status (CONOR) with the Norwegian MS Registry and the population-based Medical Birth Registry of Norway that includes information on all births in Norway since 1967. MS clinical onset was collected throughout 2016. A total of 95 891 offspring born between 1922 and 1986 to mothers participating in CONOR were included. We identified 215 offspring within this cohort who developed adult-onset MS. Associations between breastfeeding and MS risk were estimated as hazard ratios using Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for maternal factors including education.

We found no association between having been breastfed for ≥4 months and MS risk, also after adjusting for various maternal factors (hazard ratio = 0.90; 95% confidence interval 0.68-1.19). The estimates did not change for different durations of breastfeeding. The results were similar when adjusting for other perinatal factors.

Our study could not confirm previous findings of an association between breastfeeding and risk of MS. Breastfeeding information was less likely to be biased by knowledge of disease compared with case-control studies.