BMJ  2003;326 (28 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7404.0-e

Filler

POEM^*

Breast feeding is associated with fewer hospitalisations

Question Is breast feeding associated with fewer hospitalisations for respiratory problems?

Synopsis This team used a sensible search strategy to perform this meta-analysis. They explored several databases to find studies in industrialised nations reporting rates of hospitalisations for lower respiratory diseases and that examined breast feeding of more than two months' duration. They also attempted to find unpublished studies. The investigators independently abstracted the data using a standard data collection form. They identified nine eligible studies, seven of them cohort studies with follow up from three to 60 months (seven with more than one year of follow up). In examining the individual studies, only two showed a significant protective effect of breast feeding. In the pooled data of the seven cohort studies, however, one sees a significant effect: 75 of 3201 breast fed infants were hospitalised for lower respiratory infections compared with 77 of 1324 (adjusted risk ratio 3.5%; relative risk 0.28, 95% confidence interval 0.14 to 0.54). If this were an unconfounded study, this would translate to a number needed to treat of 29. The authors don't report whether the data were homogeneous across trials.

Bottom line Healthy babies who are breast fed for at least two months have fewer hospitalisations for lower respiratory disease. Whether this is purely due to breast feeding or some other associated unmeasured factors (such as health beliefs) is unknown.

Level of evidence 1a (see www.infopoems.com/resources/levels.html); systematic reviews (with homogeneity) of randomised controlled trials

---

Bachrach VRG, Schwarz E, Bachrach LR. Breast feeding and the risk of hospitalization for respiratory disease in infancy: a meta-analysis. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003;157: 237-43[Abstract/Free Full Text].

©infoPOEMs 1992-2003 www.infoPOEMs.com/informationmastery.cfm

^* Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters. See editorial ( BMJ 2002;325: 983[Free Full Text])

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Avoidance of circumcision plus breastfeeding may produce lowest childhood morbidity and mortality

George Hill
bmj.com, 5 Jul 2003 [Full text]