RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Breastfeeding duration and cognitive, language and motor development at 18 months of age: Rhea mother–child cohort in Crete, Greece
JF Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
JO J Epidemiol Community Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 232
OP 239
DO 10.1136/jech-2013-202500
VO 69
IS 3
A1 Vasiliki Leventakou
A1 Theano Roumeliotaki
A1 Katerina Koutra
A1 Maria Vassilaki
A1 Evangelia Mantzouranis
A1 Panos Bitsios
A1 Manolis Kogevinas
A1 Leda Chatzi
YR 2015
UL http://jech.bmj.com/content/69/3/232.abstract
AB Background Breast feeding duration has been associated with improved cognitive development in children. However, few population-based prospective studies have evaluated dose–response relationships of breastfeeding duration with language and motor development at early ages, and results are discrepant. Methods The study uses data from the prospective mother–child cohort (‘Rhea’ study) in Crete, Greece. 540 mother–child pairs were included in the present analysis. Information about parental and child characteristics and breastfeeding practices was obtained by interview-administered questionnaires. Trained psychologists assessed cognitive, language and motor development by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Toddler Development (3rd edition) at the age of 18 months. Results Duration of breast feeding was linearly positively associated with all the Bayley scales, except of gross motor. The association persisted after adjustment for potential confounders with an increase of 0.28 points in the scale of cognitive development (β=0.28; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.55), 0.29 points in the scale of receptive communication (β=0.29; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.54), 0.30 points in the scale of expressive communication (β=0.30; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.57) and 0.29 points in the scale of fine motor development (β=0.29; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.56) per accumulated month of breast feeding. Children who were breast fed longer than 6 months had a 4.44-point increase in the scale of fine motor development (β=4.44; 95% CI 0.06 to 8.82) compared with those never breast fed. Conclusions Longer duration of breast feeding was associated with increased scores in cognitive, language and motor development at 18 months of age, independently from a wide range of parental and infant characteristics. Additional longitudinal studies and trials are needed to confirm these results.