Effects of an exclusive breastfeeding intervention for six months on growth patterns of 4-5 year old children in Uganda: the cluster-randomised PROMISE EBF trial.

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BackgroundBreastfeeding promotion is regarded as one of the most effective interventions to improve child health, and could reduce under-5-mortality by 8 % globally. Few studies have assessed the health outcomes beyond infancy of interventions promoting exclusive breastfeeding.MethodsThis study assessed growth in under-five children who participated in a cluster-randomised trial in Eastern Uganda (ClinicalTrials.gov.no.NCT00397150). In the intervention arm, peer counsellors promoted exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of infancy. There were no interventions after 6 months of age. Mother-infant pairs were interviewed at visits scheduled at 3, 6, 12 and 24 weeks after birth and follow-up visits at 2 and 5 years, with 765 included in the analyses.ResultsThe mean length/height-for-age and weight-for-age-z-score (HAZ, WAZ) decreased with increasing age in both the intervention and control arms. At the three weeks visit, HAZ in the intervention was −0.45 (−0.68;−0.21) and −0.32 (−0.56;−0.07) in the control arm. At the 2 year follow-up, the mean HAZ in the intervention was −1.85 (95 % CI −1.97;−1.73) compared to −1.61 (−1.87;−1.34) in the control. Similarly, at the 5 year follow-up, the mean HAZ in the intervention was −1.78 (−2.08;−1.47) compared to −1.53 (−1.79;−1.28) in the control arm. At the 2 year follow-up visit, 139 (45 %) were stunted (HAZ<−2) in the intervention compared to 109 (37 %) in the control arm, odds ratio (OR) 1.7 (1.1;2.4). Underweight (WAZ<−2) was also more common in the intervention arm than in the control at the five years follow-up (OR 1.7 (1.0;2.8)), with a mean WAZ of −1.28 (−1.47;−1.08) and −1.06 (−1.19;−0.92) in the intervention and control arm, respectively.ConclusionWhile stunting was widespread at 2 and 5 years of age in both arms, it was more common in the intervention arm. It is questionable whether community-based support from lay people with short training and focussing only on exclusive breastfeeding, is an appropriate strategy to improve child health and development.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov.no.NCT00397150. Registered 7th of November 2006.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3234-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.