Breastfeeding and Development of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms Across Childhood
Berit Skretting Solberg1, Anne Lise Brantsæter2, Liv Grimstvedt Kvalvik3
1Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Child- and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Unit, Hospital Betanien, Bergen, Norway.
Insights
Full breastfeeding is linked to fewer childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Each month of breastfeeding was associated with reduced ADHD symptoms, suggesting a protective effect against ADHD development.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Public Health
Background:
- Breastfeeding is hypothesized to reduce childhood ADHD risk.
- Causality is difficult to establish due to potential genetic and environmental confounders.
- This study investigates the link between breastfeeding duration and ADHD symptoms, controlling for key factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively examine the association between full breastfeeding duration and ADHD symptoms in children.
- To account for sociodemographic, perinatal factors, and polygenic risk scores for ADHD.
- To determine if breastfeeding offers a protective effect against ADHD symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 37,643 children in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.
- Employed multivariate regression models to assess the impact of full breastfeeding per month on parent-rated ADHD symptoms at ages 3, 5, and 8.
- Adjusted for socioeconomic, perinatal factors, and ADHD polygenic scores in children and parents.
Main Results:
- Each additional month of full breastfeeding was significantly associated with lower ADHD symptoms across all ages.
- Adjusted coefficients indicated a consistent inverse relationship between breastfeeding duration and ADHD symptom severity.
- Sibling analyses and inverse probability weighting confirmed the robustness of these findings, mitigating confounding effects.
Conclusions:
- Full breastfeeding may offer partial protection against the development of childhood ADHD symptoms.
- The findings support breastfeeding as a potential protective factor for neurodevelopment.
- Further research is warranted to elucidate the underlying biological and behavioral mechanisms.
Background:
Studies suggest that breastfeeding may be associated with a reduced risk of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, determining causality is challenging because potential confounders, including genetic predisposition, may influence this relationship. We prospectively examined the relationship between full (exclusive or predominant) breastfeeding duration and ADHD symptoms in children, accounting for sociodemographic and perinatal factors and polygenic risk of ADHD.
Methods:
We obtained data from 37,643 children (49.1% girls) born from 1999 to 2009 and 18,349 mother-father-child units from the MoBa (Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study). We examined the effect of full breastfeeding per month (self-reported when the child was 6 months of age) on parent-rated ADHD symptoms in offspring at 3, 5, and 8 years (multivariate regression models). Measures are expressed as unstandardized regression coefficients (B) with 95% CIs, adjusting for socioeconomic and perinatal factors and ADHD polygenic scores in child, mother, and father.
Results:
Full breastfeeding per month was significantly associated with lower ADHD symptom scores at all ages (adjusted Bage3 = -0.08 [95% CI, -0.09 to -0.07], Bage5 = -0.07 [95% CI, -0.08 to -0.06], Bage8 = -0.06 [95% CI, -0.07 to -0.05]), indicating that each month of full breastfeeding associated with lower ADHD symptoms. Similar results were observed when we modeled breastfeeding as a categorical variable including both full and partial breastfeeding. Inverse probability weighting, accounting for loss to follow-up, and sibling analyses with discordant breastfeeding exposures, accounting for unmeasured confounding, supported the main results.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that full breastfeeding could partially protect against childhood ADHD symptoms. Further studies are needed to understand the potential mechanisms of the association between breastfeeding and lower ADHD symptoms.
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