Bristol-based study of the protective effect of breastfeeding
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The protective effect of breastfeeding against hospital admission for infectious gastrointestinal and respiratory illness during the first year of life: A retrospective cohort study in Bristol linking routine data on hospital admissions with child health records
IRAS ID
131800
Contact name
Selena Gray
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of the West of England
Research summary
The potential health benefits of breastfeeding are well known, particularly its protective effect against many common childhood infectious illnesses. However, breastfeeding rates in the UK remain relatively low. Research evidence indicates that significant savings in the human and financial cost of treating illness associated with not breastfeeding, could be achieved with reasonable and feasible improvements in breastfeeding prevalence and duration.
The aim of this project is to confirm the existence of, and quantify the association between breastfeeding and admission to hospital during the first year of life due to infectious gastrointestinal and respiratory illness for Bristol children born from 2009 to 2011. The primary purpose to generate precise local intelligence to enhance breastfeeding promotion, to help target interventions more effectively, contribute to the business case for continuing breastfeeding promotion in Bristol and to hopefully clarify some of the continuing breastfeeding debate in the popular media.
The study method combines robust routinely collected data on infant feeding at the 6 to 8 weeks, with information on hospital admissions to analyse the relationship of interest. Using the linkage of routine data in this way is a relatively expedient means of carrying out the research, avoiding the need to collect new primary data, and permits the inclusion of a large study population. It is a secondary purpose of the research to test this approach, with a view to its application to ongoing monitoring and other research questions in future.
Information on other factors likely to influence the likelihood of breastfeeding and/or admission to hospital for infectious illness in the first year of life will also be collected, the analysis designed to investigate and take account of their potential impact on the primary relationship of interest. These factors include: maternal age, ethnicity, smoking during pregnancy, deprivation, birth weight, gestation and early hospitalisation of the infant.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/SC/0414
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion