The role of exclusive breastfeeding in prevention of childhood epilepsy
Abstract: Epilepsy affects 1%
of children worldwide. The highest incidence is in the first year of life, and
perinatal factors, such as hypoxic-ischemic injury, infection, and cortical
malformation may play etiologic roles. Breast milk contains optimal nutrients
for human brain in early life. Breastfeeding has been associated with lower
risk of infections, better cognitive and psychomotor development. However, the
role of breastfeeding in preventing childhood epilepsy remains unclear.
Objective To evaluate an association between exclusive breastfeeding and
childhood epilepsy. Methods A case-control study conducted from 1 May to 3 July
2013 involving children with epilepsy aged 6 months to 18 years who were
attending pediatric outpatient clinic of Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta.
Neurologically normal children, individually matched by age and sex, visiting
the same clinic were considered as controls. Exclusion criteria were children
with structural brain abnormality, history of epilepsy in family, and who had history
of neonatal seizure, intracranial infection, febrile seizure, and head trauma
before onset of epilepsy. History of breastfeeding was obtained by interviewing
the parents. The difference of exclusively breastfeeding proportion between
cases and controls was analyzed by McNemar test. Results The total number of
participants was 68 cases and controls each. Subjects with epilepsy had lower
proportion of exclusively breastfed (48.5%) compared with controls (54.4%), but
the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.541). Exclusively
breastfeeding showed no statistical significance in decreasing risk of epilepsy
(OR=0.71; 95%CI 0.32 to 1.61). Conclusions Exclusive breastfeeding for 4-6
months has no effect against childhood epilepsy.
Author: Alexander Kurniadi,
Elisabeth Siti Herini, Wahyu Damayanti
Journal Code: jpkedokterangg150269
