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
Multicenter Study
. 2020 Mar:218:49-56.e3.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.11.020. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Human Milk Intake at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge among Very Low Birth Weight Infants in California

Jessica Liu  1 , Margaret G Parker  2 , Tianyao Lu  1 , Shannon M Conroy  3 , John Oehlert  4 , Henry C Lee  1 , Scarlett Lin Gomez  3 , Salma Shariff-Marco  3 , Jochen Profit  5
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Human Milk Intake at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge among Very Low Birth Weight Infants in California

Jessica Liu et al. J Pediatr. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine how infant and maternal factors, hospital factors, and neighborhood-level factors impact or modify racial/ethnic disparities in human milk intake at hospital discharge among very low birth weight infants.

Study design: We studied 14 422 infants from 119 California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative neonatal intensive care units born from 2008 to 2011. Maternal addresses were linked to 2010 census tract data, representing neighborhoods. We tested for associations with receiving no human milk at discharge, using multilevel cross-classified models.

Results: Compared with non-Hispanic whites, the adjusted odds of no human milk at discharge was higher among non-Hispanic blacks (aOR 1.33 [1.16-1.53]) and lower among Hispanics (aOR 0.83 [0.74-0.93]). Compared with infants of more educated white mothers, infants of less educated white, black, and Asian mothers had higher odds of no human milk at discharge, and infants of Hispanic mothers of all educational levels had similar odds as infants of more educated white mothers. Country of birth and neighborhood socioeconomic was also associated with disparities in human milk intake at discharge.

Conclusions: Non-Hispanic blacks had the highest and Hispanic infants the lowest odds of no human milk at discharge. Maternal education and country of birth were the biggest drivers of disparities in human milk intake, suggesting the need for targeted approaches of breastfeeding support.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Furman L, Taylor G, Minich N, Hack M. The effect of maternal milk on neonatal morbidity of very low-birth-weight infants. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:66–71. - PubMed
    1. Sisk PM, Lovelady CA, Dillard RG, Gruber KJ, O’Shea TM. Early human milk feeding is associated with a lower risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants. J Perinatol. 2007;27:428–33. - PubMed
    1. Colaizy TT, Bartick MC, Jegier BJ, Green BD, Reinhold AG, Schaefer AJ, et al. Impact of Optimized Breastfeeding on the Costs of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants. J Pediatr. 2016;175:100–5 e2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Patel AL, Johnson TJ, Robin B, Bigger HR, Buchanan A, Christian E, et al. Influence of own mother’s milk on bronchopulmonary dysplasia and costs. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2017;102:F256–F61. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vohr BR, Poindexter BB, Dusick AM, McKinley LT, Wright LL, Langer JC, et al. Beneficial effects of breast milk in the neonatal intensive care unit on the developmental outcome of extremely low birth weight infants at 18 months of age. Pediatrics. 2006;118:e115–23. - PubMed

Publication types