Maternal asthma effects infant eczema risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breast-feeding infants in the first 2 years of life provides protective effects, but these protective effects are weakened if the mother has allergies or asthma, according to findings published in the current of the Journal of Pediatrics.

On the other hand, longer breast-feeding protects against recurrent wheeze regardless of the mother's allergic status.

Dr. Bianca E. P. Snijders, of Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed data from 2,705 infants enrolled in the Birth Cohort Study. Questionnaires dispensed to the mothers after 34 weeks of pregnancy and 3, 7, 12, and 24 months after birth, were used to collect information on breast-feeding, allery manifestations and other data.

Blood samples were obtained during home visits between 34 to 36 weeks of treatment and total and specific immunoglobulin E measurements were performed on infants' blood samples obtained at 2 years.

Of the 2705 infants, 2287 (85 percent) were breast-fed.

An association was observed between a longer duration of breast-feeding and a lower risk of eczema in infants of mothers without allergies or asthma. There was a trend toward a lower risk among infants of mothers with allergy but no asthma.

"Longer breast-feeding duration was associated with a lower risk of recurrent wheeze in infants of mothers without allergy or asthma, with allergy but no asthma, and with asthma, Snijders and colleagues report. The lowest risk of recurrent infant wheeze in all groups was in infants who breast-fed for 7 to 9 months.The investigators speculate that this may reflect protection against respiratory infections.

SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics, October 2007.