Infant milk feeding at 2 months and incidence of eczema, food allergy or respiratory symptoms up to 2 years in the nationwide ELFE cohort study
Résumé
Background & aim
our aim was to examine the associations between infant milk-feeding, focusing on protein hydrolysis in formula, and incidence of allergies or respiratory symptoms in toddlerhood.
Method
Among more than 8 000 infants from the ELFE study, we examined the association between milk feeding (breastmilk only, partially hydrolyzed infant formula with or without a hypoallergenic label (pHF-HA, pHF-non-HA) and intact-protein formula) at 2 months and incidence of eczema, food allergies or respiratory symptoms (wheezing, bronchiolitis episodes, asthma) as declared by the parents up to 2 years, using multivariate logistic regressions, with predominant breastmilk as reference. We also performed analyses stratified by familial allergy status.
Results
Predominant breastfeeding at 2 months was related to lower risk of eczema, wheezing and frequent bronchiolitis episodes at 1 year compared to formula feeding. The use of pHF-HA at 2 months was related to both higher risk of frequent bronchiolitis episodes, and wheezing at 1 year and higher risk of frequent bronchiolitis episodes and food allergy at 2 years compared infants fed formula with intact proteins. Similar results In the stratified analyses, the increase risk related to the use of pHF-HA at 2 months was found in both non-at-risk and at-risk infants. A higher risk for frequent bronchiolitis episodes at 1 and 2 years was seen in at-risk infants while a higher risk for food allergy at 2 years was mainly observed in non-at-risk infants.
Conclusions
We confirmed a protective effect of breastfeeding on eczema, wheezing and frequent bronchiolitis episodes at 1 year but did not find any protective effect of pHF.