Protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding against hand, foot and mouth disease

Limei Sun,Yonghui Zhang,Jun Lin ,Hanri Zeng,Aiping Deng,Wenjun Ma ,Hualiang Lin,Jianfeng He,Min Kang

doi:10.1186/preaccept-7344673251342033

Abstract

BackgroundInfants who are exclusively breastfed receive natural protection against some infectious agents. This study examined whether there was protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding on the occurrence of hand, foot and mouth disease, which was an emerging infectious disease among children in China.MethodsA community-based case–control study was carried out among children age 4 years or younger in Guangdong Province, China. Cases were newly diagnosed hand, foot and mouth disease. Controls were randomly sampled from healthy children from the nearby village. Unconditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for exclusive breastfeeding after adjusting for potential confounding factors.ResultsA total of 316 cases and 566 controls were included in the analysis. Significantly beneficial effect of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months was observed for hand, foot and mouth disease occurrence. The overall OR was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.47-0.85) for exclusive breastfeeding compared with mixed feeding type. The age-specific analyses indicated that the protective effect persisted till the age of 28 months.ConclusionsThis study suggests that exclusive breastfeeding might have protective effect against HFMD infection among the children within 28 months of age.

Highlights

Infants who are exclusively breastfed receive natural protection against some infectious agents
Study design We used information collected from a case–control study conducted in 6 cities in Guangdong Province, China (Figure 1), regarding risk factors for children hand, foot and mouth disease
The current study added to the knowledge gap in Chinese population that exclusive breastfeeding could prevent the occurrence of hand, foot and mouth disease, and this protection could persist for about 28 months

Summary

Introduction

Infants who are exclusively breastfed receive natural protection against some infectious agents. This study examined whether there was protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding on the occurrence of hand, foot and mouth disease, which was an emerging infectious disease among children in China. The evidence is still lacking on the protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding at early life time, especially on infectious diseases, and how long the protective effect can persist [3]. Foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infectious disease among children, mainly caused by the Enterovirus 71 and Coxsackievirus A 16 [4]. In most times this infection is mild and self-limiting,

Methods

Results

Conclusion