Journal
EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY JOURNAL
Volume 39, Issue 1, Pages 81-89Publisher
EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY SOC JOURNALS LTD
DOI: 10.1183/09031936.00178110
Keywords
Asthma; duration of breastfeeding; exclusive breastfeeding; wheezing
Categories
Funding
- Erasmus Medical Center (Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
- Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw)
- Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
- Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
- Ministry of Youth and Families
- European Respiratory Society/Marie Curie [MC 1226-2009, PCOFUND-GA-2008-229571]
- Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) [90700303, 916.10159]
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The aim of our study was to examine the associations of breastfeeding duration and exclusiveness with the risks of asthma-related symptoms in preschool children, and to explore whether these associations are explained by atopic or infectious mechanisms. This study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study of 5,368 children. Information on breastfeeding duration, exclusiveness and asthma-related symptoms, including wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough and persistent phlegm, was obtained by questionnaires. Compared with children who were breastfed for 6 months, those who were never breastfed had overall increased risks of wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough and persistent phlegm during the first 4 yrs (OR 1.44 (95% CI 1.24-1.66), 1.26 (1.07-1.48), 1.25 (1.08-1.44) and 1.57 (1.29-1.91), respectively). Similar associations were observed for exclusive breastfeeding. The strongest associations per symptom per year were observed for wheezing at 1 and 2 yrs. Additionally adjusted analyses showed that the associations of breastfeeding with asthma-related symptoms were not explained by eczema but partly by lower respiratory tract infections. Shorter duration and nonexclusivity of breastfeeding were associated with increased risks of asthma-related symptoms in preschool children. These associations seemed, at least partly, to be explained by infectious, but not by atopic, mechanisms.
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