Journal article

Breast-feeding and atopic disease: A cohort study from childhood to middle age

Melanie Claire Matheson, Bircan Erbas, Aindralal Balasuriya, Mark Andrew Jenkins, Cathryn Leisa Wharton, Mimi Lai-Kuan Tang, Michael John Abramson, Eugene Haydn Walters, John Llewelyn Hopper, Shyamali Chandrika Dharmage

JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY | MOSBY-ELSEVIER | Published : 2007

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The literature regarding the association between breast-feeding and atopic diseases has been contradictory. OBJECTIVE: We have assessed the relationship between breast-feeding and atopic disorders in a cohort followed into middle age. METHODS: The Tasmanian Asthma Study is a population-based prospective cohort study that has followed participants from the age of 7 to 44 years. Exclusive breast-feeding in the first 3 months of life was examined as a risk factor for atopic diseases by using multiple logistic regression and generalized estimating equation analyses. RESULTS: At age 7 years, exclusively breast-fed children with a maternal history of atopy had a marginally lesser risk ..

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