Breast-Feeding Protects Children from Adverse Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke.

Hanns Moshammer,Hans-Peter Hutter

doi:10.3390/ijerph16030304

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study on 433 schoolchildren (aged 6–9 years) from 9 schools in Austria, we observed associations between housing factors like passive smoking and lung function as well as improved lung function in children who had been breast-fed. The latter findings urged the question of whether the protective effects of breast-feeding act on environmental stressors or if they act independently. Therefore, the effect of passive smoking on lung function was stratified by breast-feeding. The detrimental effects of passive smoking were significant but restricted to the group of 53 children without breast-feeding. Breast-feeding counteracts the effect of environmental stressors on the growing respiratory organs.

Highlights

We previously reported on 433 schoolchildren from nine schools in Austria
We found associations between indoor air quality in the schools and lung function of the children [1], between organophosphate flame retardants in the dust of classrooms and cognitive performance of the children [2], and between household factors like passive smoking reported in a questionnaire by the parents and lung function [3]
FVC: Forced vital capacity; FEV1, FEV0.5: Forced expiratory volume in the first second and in the first half second, respectively; peak expiratory flow (PEF): Peak expiratory flow; maximal expiratory flow at 75% of FVC (MEF75), maximal expiratory flow at 50% of FVC (MEF50), maximal expiratory flow at 25% of FVC (MEF25): Maximal expiratory flow at 75%, 50%, and 25% of FVC, respectively; maximal mean expiratory flow (MMEF): Maximal mean expiratory flow

Summary

Introduction

We previously reported on 433 schoolchildren (aged 6–9 years) from nine schools in Austria. We found associations between indoor air quality in the schools and lung function of the children [1], between organophosphate flame retardants in the dust of classrooms and cognitive performance of the children [2], and between household factors like passive smoking reported in a questionnaire by the parents and lung function [3]. We observed better lung function in children who had been breast-fed. The household factor that most strongly reduced lung function was “number of smokers in the household”. A protective effect of breast-feeding on lung function later in childhood has been reported in several studies, e.g., those in References [4,5].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion