ArticleBMJ open2019
Breastfeeding and behavioural problems: Propensity score matching with a national cohort of infants in Chile.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Counselling interventions to enable women to initiate and continue breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International breastfeeding journal · 2019Pooled it
- Early breastfeeding as protective factor for preschool emotional and behavioral health.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- The effects of breastfeeding duration on children's behavior problems at around 3 years of age.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- The Effects of Breastfeeding on Childhood Behavioral and Emotional Development: A Prospective Cohort Study in China.Nutrients · 2024Article
- An examination of behavioural and emotional problems in children exposed prenatally to the 27F Chilean earthquake: findings from the ELPI cohort.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- A Mixed-Methods Examination of Inpatient Breastfeeding Education Using a Human Factors Perspective.Breastfeeding medicine : the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine · 2021Article
- Use of propensity score matching to create counterfactual group to assess potential HIV prevention interventions.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The effects of mother's education on achieving exclusive breastfeeding in Indonesia.BMC public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
importancePotential effects of breast feeding on children's behaviour remains an elusive debate given inherent methodological challenges. Propensity score matching affords benefits by ensuring greater equivalence on observable social and health determinants, helping to reduce bias between groups.
objectivesWe examined whether the duration of breast feeding had an impact on children's externalising and internalising behaviours. STUDY
designA cohort study (Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia cohort) that included 3037 Chilean families who were enrolled in 2010. Follow-up data was collected in 2012.
settingGeneral community.
participantsPopulation-based sample. Eligibility criteria: children born full-term with complete data on matching variables. Matching variables included: healthcare system as a proxy of income, presence of a partner/spouse in the household, maternal age, educational level, IQ, working status, type of work, diagnosis of prenatal depression by a healthcare professional, smoking during pregnancy, delivery type, child sex, weight at birth, incubation following delivery, and child age. EXPOSURE: Duration of breast feeding. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Externalising and internalising problems assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist.
resultsMatched results revealed benefits of any breast feeding, up to 6 months, on emotional reactivity and somatic complaints (mean difference of -1.00, 95% CI, -1.84 to -0.16 and -1.02, 95% CI, -1.76 to -0.28, respectively). Children breast fed between 7 and 12 months also had reduced scores on emotional reactivity, in addition to attention problems (mean difference of -0.86, 95% CI, -1.66 to -0.06 and -0.50, 95% CI, -0.93 to -0.07, respectively). No benefits were observed for children breast fed 13 months or more.
conclusionReduced internalising difficulties and inattention were found in children breast fed up to a year, suggesting that breast feeding may have beneficial impacts on these areas of development. The magnitude of effect was modest. Extended durations of breast feeding did not appear to offer any benefits.
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