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Am J Public Health. 2004 Sep;94(9):1531-7.
The relation of breastfeeding and body mass index to asthma and atopy in
children: a prospective cohort study to age 6 years.
Oddy WH, Sherriff JL, de Klerk NH, Kendall GE, Sly PD, Beilin LJ, Blake KB,
Landau LI, Stanley FJ.
Department of Nutrition, Dietetics adn Food Science, Curtin University of
Technology, Perth, Australia. wendyo@ichr.uwa.edu. Au
Objectives:
We investigated the relationship between breastfeeding, asthma
and atopy, and child body mass index (BMI). Methods:
From a prospective
birth cohort (n = 2860) in Perth, Western Australia, 2195 children were
followed up to age 6 years. Asthma was defined as doctor-diagnosed asthma
and wheeze in the last year, and atopy was determined by skin prick test of
1596 children. Breastfeeding, BMI, asthma, and atopy were regressed allowing
for confounders and the propensity score for overweight. Results:
Using
fractional polynomials, we found no association between breastfeeding and
overweight. Less exclusive breastfeeding was associated with increased
asthma and atopy, and BMI increased with asthma. Conclusions:
Less exclusive
breastfeeding leads to increases in child asthma and atopy and a higher BMI
is a risk factor for asthma.
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