Breast-feeding duration and the risk of malignant diseases in childhood in Sweden

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition 2001-03, Vol.55 (3), p.179-185
• Main Authors: HARDELL, L, DREIFALDT, A. C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Biological and medical sciences; Birth; Brain Neoplasms - epidemiology; Brain Neoplasms - etiology; Brain tumors; Breast; Breast feeding; Breast Feeding - adverse effects; Breastfeeding & lactation; Cancer; Cancer in children; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Children; Children & youth; Clinical nutrition; Confidence intervals; County councils; Environment. Living conditions; Feeding; Female; Health aspects; Health care; Health risk assessment; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Lymphoma; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - epidemiology; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - etiology; Male; Medical sciences; MEDICIN; MEDICINE; Morbidity; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - etiology; Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; Nutrition; Odds Ratio; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Registries; Risk; Risk Factors; Sweden - epidemiology; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601142

To evaluate childhood cancer in relation to duration of breast-feeding. Sweden. Records from Child Healthcare Centres were scrutinised regarding information on breast-feeding and other health-related items. All children aged 0-14 y with a malignant disease (benign brain tumours included) during the time period 1988-91 (n = 962) were identified from the Swedish Cancer Register. An equal number of controls matched for sex and age were selected from the Swedish Birth Register. Information was obtained for 835 cases and 860 controls. Overall, duration of breast-feeding did not influence the risk for a malignant disease in this age group. However, breast-feeding > or = 1 month increased the risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) yielding an odds ratio (OR) 5.5 with 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-25. Breast-feeding 1 -< 6 months gave OR 5.1, CI 1.1-24 and > 6 months gave OR 7.0, CI 1.3-37 with a significant trend (P = 0.04). Adjustment for maternal and birth-related co-variates gave similar results. For other malignancies no significant changes of the risk were obtained. Overall, no association between duration of breast-feeding and childhood malignancies was found except for a significantly increased risk for NHL, but this was based on low numbers of cases and needs to be confirmed in other investigations.