Infant feeding method and special educational need in 191,745 Scottish schoolchildren: a national, population cohort study

Adams, L. J., Pell, J. P. , Mackay, D. F. , Clark, D., King, A. and Fleming, M. (2023) Infant feeding method and special educational need in 191,745 Scottish schoolchildren: a national, population cohort study. PLoS Medicine, 20(4), e1004191. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004191) (PMID:37022988) (PMCID:PMC10079126)

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Abstract

Background: While special educational needs (SEN) are increasingly recorded among schoolchildren, infant breastfeeding has been associated with reduced incidence of childhood physical and mental health problems. This study investigated relationships between infant feeding method and risk of all-cause and cause-specific SEN. Methods and findings: A population cohort of schoolchildren in Scotland was constructed by linking together health (maternity, birth, and health visitor records) and education (annual school pupil census) databases. Inclusion was restricted to singleton children, born in Scotland from 2004 onwards with available breastfeeding data and who attended local authority mainstream or special schools between 2009 and 2013. Generalised estimating equation models with a binomial distribution and logit link function investigated associations between infant feeding method at 6 to 8 weeks and all-cause and cause-specific SEN, adjusting for sociodemographic and maternity factors. Of 191,745 children meeting inclusion criteria, 126,907 (66.2%) were formula-fed, 48,473 (25.3%) exclusively breastfed, and 16,365 (8.5%) mixed-fed. Overall, 23,141 (12.1%) children required SEN. Compared with formula feeding, mixed feeding and exclusive breastfeeding, respectively, were associated with decreased all-cause SEN (OR 0.90, 95% CI [0.84,0.95], p < 0.001 and 0.78, [0.75,0.82], p < 0.001), and SEN attributed to learning disabilities (0.75, [0.65,0.87], p < 0.001 and 0.66, [0.59,0.74], p < 0.001), and learning difficulties (0.85, [0.77,0.94], p = 0.001 and 0.75, [0.70,0.81], p < 0.001). Compared with formula feeding, exclusively breastfed children had less communication problems (0.81, [0.74,0.88], p = 0.001), social–emotional–behavioural difficulties (0.77, [0.70,0.84], p = 0.001), sensory impairments (0.79, [0.65,0.95], p = 0.01), physical motor disabilities (0.78, [0.66,0.91], p = 0.002), and physical health conditions (0.74, [0.63,0.87], p = 0.01). There were no significant associations for mixed-fed children (communication problems (0.94, [0.83,1.06], p = 0.312), social–emotional–behavioural difficulties (0.96, [0.85,1.09], p = 0.541), sensory impairments (1.07, [0.84,1.37], p = 0.579), physical motor disabilities (0.97, [0.78,1.19], p = 0.754), and physical health conditions (0.93, [0.74,1.16], p = 0.504)). Feeding method was not significantly associated with mental health conditions (exclusive 0.58 [0.33,1.03], p = 0.061 and mixed 0.74 [0.36,1.53], p = 0.421) or autism (exclusive 0.88 [0.77,1.01], p = 0.074 and mixed 1.01 [0.84,1.22], p = 0.903). Our study was limited since only 6- to 8-week feeding method was available precluding differentiation between never-breastfed infants and those who stopped breastfeeding before 6 weeks. Additionally, we had no data on maternal and paternal factors such as education level, IQ, employment status, race/ethnicity, or mental and physical health. Conclusions: In this study, we observed that both breastfeeding and mixed feeding at 6 to 8 weeks were associated with lower risk of all-cause SEN, and SEN attributed to learning disabilities and learning difficulty. Many women struggle to exclusively breastfeed for the full 6 months recommended by WHO; however, this study provides evidence that a shorter duration of nonexclusive breastfeeding could nonetheless be beneficial with regard to the development of SEN. Our findings augment the existing evidence base concerning the advantages of breastfeeding and reinforce the importance of breastfeeding education and support.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The study was funded by Health Data Research UK (www.hdruk.ac.uk) (grant reference number MR/S003800/1 to MF). HDR UK is a joint investment led by the Medical Research Council, together with the National Institute for Health Research (England), the Chief Scientist Office (Scotland), Health and Care Research Wales, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and Wellcome.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Pell, Professor Jill and Fleming, Dr Michael and Mackay, Professor Daniel
Creator Roles:
Pell, J. P.Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Mackay, D. F.Methodology, Writing – review and editing
Fleming, M.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Authors: Adams, L. J., Pell, J. P., Mackay, D. F., Clark, D., King, A., and Fleming, M.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Public Health
Journal Name:PLoS Medicine
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1549-1277
ISSN (Online):1549-1676
Published Online:06 April 2023
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2023 Adams et al.
First Published:First published in PLoS Medicine 20(4): e1004191
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
303197Linking education and health data together to study relationships between various health factors and children's educational and health outcomesJill PellMedical Research Council (MRC)MR/S003800/1HW - Public Health