| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Original Research Communication |
1 From the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, formerly ORSTOM), Nutrition Unit and Infectious Diseases Research Unit, Montpellier, France, and the Niakhar Population and Health Project, Dakar, Senegal.
Background: Prolonged breast-feeding is frequently associated with malnutrition in less-developed countries, even after adjustment for socioeconomic confounders. However, in rural Senegal, breast-feeding is prolonged when the child is stunted.
Objective: We aimed to test whether the lower height-for-age of children weaned late is explained by their height before weaning or whether prolonged breast-feeding is associated with impaired growth.
Design: A cohort of 443 Senegalese children recruited from dispensaries at 2 mo of age were visited in their homes at 6-mo intervals when they were 
1.5 to 3 y of age. Weight, length, arm circumference, and triceps skinfold thickness were measured. Six-month increments were analyzed in relation to breast-feeding (breast-fed compared with weaned children or breast-feeding duration), season, and maternal housing with use of multiple linear regression.
Results: The mean duration of breast-feeding was 24.1 mo (quartiles 1 and 3: 21.9 and 26.4). Height-for-age at the age of 3 y was negatively associated with age at weaning (P < 0.01), but this association disappeared after adjustment for height-for-age in infancy. Length increments were significantly greater in both the second and third years of life in children breast-fed for longer durations (P < 0.05) and tended to be greater in breast-fed than in weaned children in the second year of life (P = 0.05). In the third year of life, breast-fed children had greater length increments than did weaned children in the subgroup with poor housing (P for interaction < 0.05). Growth in weight did not differ significantly according to breast-feeding.
Conclusion: Prolonged breast-feeding improved linear growth, and the negative relation between height-for-age and duration of breast-feeding was due to reverse causality.
Key Words: Breast-feeding • weaning • linear growth • weight • reverse causality • stunting • seasonality • socioeconomic groups • morbidity • Africa • Senegal • infants • children • height-for-age
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  F. Fillol, A. Cournil, D. Boulanger, B. Cisse, C. Sokhna, G. Targett, J.-F. Trape, F. Simondon, B. Greenwood, and K. B. Simondon Influence of Wasting and Stunting at the Onset of the Rainy Season on Subsequent Malaria Morbidity among Rural Preschool Children in Senegal Am J Trop Med Hyg, February 1, 2009; 80(2): 202 - 208. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Ntab, B. Cisse, D. Boulanger, C. Sokhna, G. Targett, J. Lines, N. Alexander, J.-F. Trape, F. Simondon, B. M. Greenwood, et al. Impact of Intermittent Preventive Anti-Malarial Treatment on the Growth and Nutritional Status of Preschool Children in Rural Senegal (West Africa) Am J Trop Med Hyg, September 1, 2007; 77(3): 411 - 417. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. E. Alvarado, M. V. Zunzunegui, H. Delisle, and J. Osorno Growth Trajectories Are Influenced by Breast-Feeding and Infant Health in an Afro-Colombian Community J. Nutr., September 1, 2005; 135(9): 2171 - 2178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. L. Eckhardt, C. Suchindran, P. Gordon-Larsen, and L. S. Adair The Association between Diet and Height in the Postinfancy Period Changes with Age and Socioeconomic Status in Filipino Youths J. Nutr., September 1, 2005; 135(9): 2192 - 2198. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Ntab, K. B. Simondon, J. Milet, B. Cisse, C. Sokhna, D. Boulanger, and F. Simondon A Young Child Feeding Index Is Not Associated with Either Height-for-Age or Height Velocity in Rural Senegalese Children J. Nutr., March 1, 2005; 135(3): 457 - 464. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. B Simondon, V. Delaunay, A. Diallo, E. Elguero, and F. Simondon Lactational amenorrhea is associated with child age at the time of introduction of complementary food: a prospective cohort study in rural Senegal, West Africa Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2003; 78(1): 154 - 161. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Olness Third-World Toddlers Reach New Heights With Breastfeeding AAP Grand Rounds, October 1, 2001; 6(4): 46 - 47. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
