The impact of short-term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years
Lenehan, Sonia M.; Boylan, Geraldine B.; Livingstone, Vicki; Fogarty, Leanna; Twomey, Deirdre Marie; Nikolovski, Janeta; Irvine, Alan D.; Kiely, Mairead E.; Kenny, Louise C.; Hourihane, Jonathan O'B.; Murray, Deirdre M.
Date:
2019-09-13
Copyright:
© 2019, Foundation Acta Pædiatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Lenehan, S. M., Boylan, G. B., Livingstone, V., Fogarty, L., Twomey, D. M., Nikolovski, J., Irvine, A. D., Kiely, M., Kenny, L. C., Hourihane, J. O'B and Murray, D. M. (2019) 'The impact of short-term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years', Acta Paediatrica. doi: 10.1111/apa.15014, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15014. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Full text restriction information:
Access to this article is restricted until 12 months after publication by request of the publisher.
Restriction lift date:
2020-09-13
Citation:
Lenehan, S. M., Boylan, G. B., Livingstone, V., Fogarty, L., Twomey, D. M., Nikolovski, J., Irvine, A. D., Kiely, M., Kenny, L. C., Hourihane, J. O'B and Murray, D. M. (2019) 'The impact of short-term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years', Acta Paediatrica. doi: 10.1111/apa.15014
Abstract:
Aim: Breastfeeding is associated with IQ, school attendance and income. Despite the known benefits of breastfeeding, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding up to 6-months is low globally. We examined the effect of short-term breastfeeding on long-term IQ. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the prospective Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study, children were categorised as predominantly breastfed (n = 288) versus exclusively formula-fed (n = 254) at 2-months of age. Infants (n = 404) receiving mixed-feeding were excluded. Outcome was assessed using the KBIT II at 5-years. Multivariable linear regression was used to adjust for confounding variables. Results: Following adjustment for confounding variables, children, predominately breastfed at 2-months of age, demonstrated increased overall IQ (2.00 points (95% CI: 0.35 to 3.65) ; p = 0.018) and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age (1.88 points (95% CI: 0.22 to 3.54); p = 0.027) compared to those never breastfed. No significant relationship was found with verbal IQ (p = 0.154). Conclusion: A significant increase in composite and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age was associated with short-term breastfeeding. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that short-term breastfeeding promotes healthy cognitive development.
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