Explaining socioeconomic inequalities in exclusive breast feeding in Norway.
Arch Dis Child
; 102(8): 708-714, 2017 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28235835
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:
In high-income countries, lower socioeconomic position is associated with lower rates of breast feeding, but it is unclear what factors explain this inequality. Our objective was to examine the association between socioeconomic position and exclusive breast feeding, and to explore whether socioeconomic inequality in exclusive breast feeding could be explained by other sociodemographic characteristics, for example, maternal age and parity, smoking habits, birth characteristics, quality of counselling and breastfeeding difficulties.METHODS:
We used data from a questionnaire sent to mothers when their infants were five completed months as part of a trial of a breastfeeding intervention in Norway. We used maternal education as an indicator of socioeconomic position. Analyses of 1598 mother-infant pairs were conducted using logistic regression to assess explanatory factors of educational inequalities in breast feeding.RESULTS:
Socioeconomic inequalities in exclusive breast feeding were present from the beginning and persisted for five completed months, when 22% of the most educated mothers exclusively breast fed compared with 7% of the least educated mothers OR 3.39 (95% CI 1.74 to 6.61). After adjustment for all potentially explanatory factors, the OR was reduced to 1.49 (95% CI 0.70 to 3.14). This decrease in educational inequality seemed to be mainly driven by sociodemographic factors, smoking habits and breastfeeding difficulties, in particular perceived milk insufficiency.CONCLUSIONS:
Socioeconomic inequalities in exclusive breast feeding at 5â months were largely explained by sociodemographic factors, but also by modifiable factors, such as smoking habits and breastfeeding difficulties, which can be amenable to public health interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT01025362.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
1_ASSA2030
/
2_ODS3
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Aleitamento Materno
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Arch Dis Child
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article