The Impact of Breastfeeding on the Childhood Acute Leukemia Risk Among Children Attending Alexandria University Children's Hospital
Abstract Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate the impact of breastfeeding on the risk of development of acute leukemia among children Admitted to Alexandria University Children's Hospital. METHODS: A case control study included 134 ALL&AML cases & 134 matched controls for age & sex from the same family relatives to evaluate socioeconomic & genetic causes of the disease. The mothers were interviewed for the completion of interview format that included: duration & patterns of breastfeeding. RESULTS: lower proportion of acute leukemia cases 59.7% were exclusively breast-fed babies as compared to 89.6% of the control subjects. However, higher proportions of index children were either predominant breast-fed 19.4% or complementary-fed 10.4%. Nearly 10.4% were bottle-fed babies as compared to none of their controls. The differences between cases & controls as regards pattern of breast feeding were statistically significant where p<0.001. As regards duration of breastfeeding 75.4% of index children were breast-fed for more than 6 months as compared to vast majority of their controls (97.8%). The difference between cases & controls was statistically significant where p <0.001. The association also was statistically significant when 2 groups (standard & high risk) were considered as regards pattern of breastfeeding where x2=13.055, p =0.004. The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that bottle feeding had the odds of 7.76 of being at high risk level for acute leukemia (OR=7.76, 95% CI 1.9-33.8). CONCLUSION: Exclusive breast-feeding and breast-feeding for one year are protective against acute childhood leukemia. Table 1. Bivariate and multivariate analysis for pattern & duration of breastfeeding of the studied children with acute leukemia and their controls. Pattern and duration of breastfeeding Bi variant variable Multivariate variable Type of feeding during the first 6 month of life. Cases (n=134) Control (n=134) Significance OR (95% CI) Significance No. % No. % X2 = 37.6 P>0.0001* 1 Exclusive BF 80 59.7 120 89.6 Predominant BF 26 19.4 13 9.7 1.67 (1.26 - 2.2)* X2 = 9.4 P=0.002* Complementary feeding 14 10.4 1 0.7 21 (2.8 - 436.4)* X2 = 16.13 P>0.0001* Bottle feeding 14 10.4 0 0 2.5 (2.1 - 2.9)* X2 = 19.12 P>0.0001* Duration of breastfeeding 0-≤ 3 month 2 1.7 0 0 X2 =15.331 MC P=0.0001* AN- FEP=0.18 =13.06 P=0.0003* X2=0.38 P=0.537 3-≤ 6 month 17 14.2 3 2.2 7.6 (2.1 - 33.8)* 6-12 month 16 13.3 17 12.7 1.26 0.6-2.8 More than 12 month 85 70.8 114 85.1 1 - X2: Chi-Square test FEP: Fisher's Exact test -NA-: Not Applicable *significant at P≤0.0 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.