These associations held after taking onto account other risk factors for respiratory infection such as tobacco use at home, siblings 10 years old and younger, living in a crowded environment, age younger than 3 months, the presence of other viral infections, and a history of asthma among family members.
Any benefit for boys, on the other hand, was not significant from a statistical standpoint in this study.
Polack’s group calls for larger studies in different ethnic groups to investigate how breastfeeding impacts girls and boys. They also suggest aggressive promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, as well as active monitoring of non-breastfed girls.
SOURCE: The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, February 2009
