engleski

Effect of breastfeeding on the course of rotavirus infection in hospitalized infants-a retrospective study

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and more than 50% of cases are caused by rotavirus. The aim of our study was to determine the role of breastfeeding on the course of rotavirus infection in hospitalized infants during a period of two years. The study was a retrospective analysis which included all infants with proven rotavirus gastroenteritis that were hospitalized at Children's Hospital Zagreb during the two-year study period. The cohort was divided into two groups according to breastfeeding: group 1 consisted of children who were exclusively breastfed or who had never taken any infant formula, and group 2 consisted of children on infant formula who were not breastfed. We also performed a subgroup analysis of children wounger than six months who did not receive any complementary feeding. The study included 71 children, 17 (23.9%) in group 1 and 54 /76.1%) in group 2. Group 1 had significantly less diarrhea than group 2 (5.9 vs 8.3 episodes, p=0.03). In addition, in group 1 there were fewer vomiting episodes and a shorter duration of symptoms, but without statistical significance (1 vs 2.3, p=0.14, and 3.9 days vs 4.4 days, p=0.35, respectively). In the subgroup of children younger than six months of age (n=48) we observed a statistically smaller number of diarrheal stools (5.6 vs 8.8, p=0.009) and vomiting episodes (0.5 vs 2.9, p=0.01) but no difference in the duration of symptoms (3.7 daysd vs 4.9 days, p=0.08). Our study showed a significant positive effect of breastfeeding on the symptoms of rotavirus diarrhea, especially in infants wounger than six months.

rotavirus; diarrhea; breastfeeding; children

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