Breastfeeding associated with fewer childhood hospitalizations
Formula-fed infants were more likely than breastfed infants were to be hospitalized for common childhood illnesses, Omotomilola M. Ajetunmobi of the National Health Service, Glasgow, Scotland, and associates reported.
In a retrospective study of 502,948 children born in Scotland between 1997 and 2009, formula-fed infants had a higher risk than did breastfed infants at 6 months of hospitalization for illnesses such as respiratory and gastrointestinal infections (hazard ratio, 1.40). The crude rates of hospitalization were 21% among breastfed and 31% among formula-fed infants, the investigators reported.
The results are consistent with prior studies providing evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding on child health, they wrote.
Read the full article at: J. Pediatr. 2015 https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.11.013.