Respiratory disease is the leading ...

Respiratory disease is the leading cause of hospitalization among young children and ensues in significant health care expenditure. Young children who expand severe respiratory disease have a 10-fold increase in risk for developing childhood asthma. late studies examining the potential benefits of breastfeeding in reducing the incidence of respiratory disease have produc uncertain flows In developing countries, breastfeeding has been shown to decrease the risk of acute infectious illnesses, if it were not that the potential benefit of this practice in healthy infants with high standards of living has not been established. rife recommendations from the Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics state that children should be breastfed exclusively for the first six month According to now passing estimates, only 31 percent of women in the United States are continuing to breastfeed until six month of age. Bachrach and colleagues studied the impact of breastfeeding onward the risk for hospitalization for lower respiratory tract disease in healthy full-term infants with access to recent medical care.

The data sources for the contemplation included MEDLINE, the OVID databases, Dissertation Abstracts Online, BIOSIS, and personal communications with researchers. Studies were reviewed if they belong toed breastfeeding exposure and lower respiratory tract disease hospitalization rates in a cause to growed country. The studies had to include infants living in affluent regions who had a minimum of brace months of exclusive breastfeeding versus no breastfeeding, and had to omit sick, premature, and low-birth-weight infants. Of the 33 studies that were reviewed as primary sources, seven met all of the inclusion criteria and were collection of standing watered separately. These seven studies included data for 4525 infants.

The data from all 33 studies indicated that infants who were breastfed had fewer hospitalizations for lower respiratory tract disease than infants who had not been breastfed. When the data from the seven studies were compared, the summary risk of hospitalization for lower respiratory tract disease was significantly lower in infants who were breastfed than in those who were not. The authors also analyzed data from the various studies to examine the impact of socioeconomic status and prospect to smoking on hospitalization rates for lower respiratory tract disease. They build that these two factors did not account for the positive benefit of breastfeeding. The authors infer that healthy infants in bring to maturityed countries who are not breastfed have three times the risk for hospitalization for lower respiratory tract disease than infants who were breastfed exclusively for at least four month They add that if social policies were disentangleed to support women in breastfeeding beyond the newborn period, a substantial amount of health care savings would occur

Bachrach VR et al. Breastfeeding and the risk of hospitalization for respiratory disease in infancy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc M March 2003;157:237-43

EDITOR'S NOTE: Multiple studies have shown the benefit that breastfeeding provides infants. Despite these eventuates only a small number of women breastfeed beyond the first six weeks. There are substantial barriers to maintaining breastfeeding, including the ne to work outside the family The study by Bachrach and colleagues has shown that breastfeeding with no supplementation for at least four month has a significant positive result on infants. However, a significant change has to happen in the working environments of the majority of women before they will be encouraged to breastfeed beyond the first six weeks. As the authors note, the reduction in the number of hospitalizations related to respiratory tract infections as a consequence of breastfeeding through the first four month would provide substantial savings in health care expenditures. This savings would more than branch the cost of making changes to the work environment.

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

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