Breast-feeding and Helicobacter pylori infection: systematic review and meta-analysis. Issue 3 (1st May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carreira, Helena; Bastos, Ana; Peleteiro, Bárbara; Lunet, Nuno
• Is Part Of: Public health nutrition. Volume 18:Issue 3(2015)
• Page Start: 500
• Page End: 520
• Publication Date: 2014-05-01
• Subjects: Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980014000500
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-9800

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="abs1" sec-type="general"> <title>Objective</title> <p>To quantify the association between breast-feeding and <italic>Helicobacter pylori</italic> infection, among children and adolescents.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs2" sec-type="general"> <title>Design</title> <p>We searched MEDLINE<sup>TM</sup> and Scopus<sup>TM</sup> up to January 2013. Summary relative risk estimates (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals were computed through the DerSimonian and Laird method. Heterogeneity was quantified using the <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> statistic.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs3" sec-type="general"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Twenty-seven countries/regions; four low-income, thirteen middle-income and ten high-income countries/regions.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs4" sec-type="subjects"> <title>Subjects</title> <p>Studies involving samples of children and adolescents, aged 0 to 19 years.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs5" sec-type="results"> <title>Results</title> <p>We identified thirty-eight eligible studies, which is nearly twice the number included in a previous meta-analysis on this topic. Fifteen studies compared ever <italic>v</italic>. never breast-fed subjects; the summary RR was 0·87 (95 % CI 0·57, 1·32; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup>=34·4 %) in middle-income and 0·85 (95 % CI 0·54, 1·34; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup>=79·1 %) in high-income settings. The effect of breast-feeding for ≥4–6 months was assessed in ten studies from middle-income (summary RR=0·66; 95 % CI 0·44, 0·98; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup>=65·7 %) and two from high-income countries (summary RR=1·56; 95 % CI 0·57, 4·26; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup>=68·3 %). Two studies assessed the effect of exclusive breast-feeding until 6 months (OR=0·91; 95 % CI 0·61, 1·34 and OR=1·71; 95 % CI 0·66, 4·47, respectively).</p> </sec> <sec id="abs6" sec-type="conclusions"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Our results suggest a protective effect of breast-feeding in economically less developed settings. However, further research is needed, with a finer assessment of the exposure to breast-feeding and careful control for confounding, before definite conclusions can be reached.</p> </sec> </abstract>