Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Nov-Dec;34(6):1534-1538.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.346.15799.

Is human milk feeding protective for Retinopathy of Prematurity?

Ayesha Muneer  1 , Attia Bari  2 , Summaira Naveed  3 , Agha Shabbir Ali  4
Affiliations

Is human milk feeding protective for Retinopathy of Prematurity?

Ayesha Muneer et al. Pak J Med Sci. 2018 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To find the association between breast milk feeding with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study to examine the effects of breast milk feeding on ROP. Premature newborns below 34 weeks from neonatal unit retinopathy of prematurity program during the years 2015 to 2017 of The Lahore General Hospital were included. We recorded the gestational age, birth weight, presence of ROP and the type of feeding (breastfeeding vs. formula milk).

Results: Out of 428 preterm babies 210 (49%) were males. More babies were between 32-34 weeks of gestation 229 (53.5%) as compared to < 32 weeks 199 (46.5%). Among all 428 preterm infants 19(4.4%) developed ROP. Majority 13 (68.4%) who developed ROP were <32 weeks of gestation (p=0.042). The mean birth weight of infants without ROP was 1.51± 0.36 kg (95%CI; 1.47-1.55), while it was 1.36 ± 0.29 kg (95%CI; 1.22-1.50) with ROP and all who developed ROP were < 2kg. The estimated odds ratio of developing ROP for breast fed versus top feeding was (ORs: 0.571, 95% CI; 0.222- 1.489). There was a trend toward lower incidence of ROP in the group of newborns who received breast-feeding (36.8%) as compared to top feeding (63.2%) but almost similar percentage who didn't develop ROP were breast fed or top fed with statistically insignificant results (p= 0.24).

Conclusions: Slightly lesser percentage of preterm babies who were breast fed developed retinopathy of prematurity.

Keywords: Breast milk; Preterm; Retinopathy of prematurity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Raghuveer TS, Bloom BT. A Paradigm Shift in the Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity. Neonatology. 2011;100:116–129. doi:10.1159/000322848. - PubMed
    1. Sohaila A, Tikmani SS, Khan IA, Atiq H. Frequency of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Premature Neonates with a Birth Weight below 1500 Grams and a Gestational Age Less than 32 Weeks :A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in a Lower-Middle Income Country. PLoS One. 2014;9(7):7–10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100785. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alparslan F, Muhammed F, Turkcu FM, Kur A, Cingu G, Yuksel H, et al. Incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Extremely Premature Infants. Pediatrics. 2014:2–6. doi:10.1155/2014/134347. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Uchida A, Miwa M, Shinoda H, Koto T, Nagai N, Mochimaru H, et al. Association of Maternal Age to Development and Progression of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Infants of Gestational Age under 33 Weeks. J Ophthalmol. 2014:1–5. doi:10.1155/2014/187929. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shah PK, Prabhu V, Karandikar SS, Ranjan R, Narendran V, Kalpana N. Retinopathy of prematurity:Past, present and future. World J Clin Pediatr. 2016;5(1):35–47. doi:0.5409/wjcp.v5.i1.35. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources