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. 2023 Jul 23;10(7):1267.
doi: 10.3390/children10071267.

Human Milk Feeding Is Associated with Decreased Incidence of Moderate-Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Extremely Preterm Infants

Sergio Verd  1 , Roser Porta  2 , Gemma Ginovart  2 , Alejandro Avila-Alvarez  3 , Fermín García-Muñoz Rodrigo  4 , Montserrat Izquierdo Renau  5 , Paula Sol Ventura  2
Affiliations

Human Milk Feeding Is Associated with Decreased Incidence of Moderate-Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Extremely Preterm Infants

Sergio Verd et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: An increased rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is reported in extremely preterm infants. A potential role of human milk feeding in protecting against this condition has been suggested.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted based on data about morbidity in the population of infants born between 22+0 and 26+6 weeks of gestation, included in the Spanish network SEN1500 during the period 2004-2019 and discharged alive. The primary outcome was moderate-severe BPD. Associated conditions were studied, including human milk feeding at discharge. The temporal trends of BPD and human milk feeding rates at discharge were also studied.

Results: In the study population of 4341 infants, the rate of moderate-severe BPD was 43.7% and it increased to >50% in the last three years. The factors significantly associated with a higher risk of moderate-severe BPD were birth weight, male sex, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, inhaled nitric oxide, patent ductus arteriosus, and late-onset sepsis. Exclusive human milk feeding and any amount of human milk at discharge were associated with a lower incidence of moderate-severe BPD (OR 0.752, 95% CI 0.629-0.901 and OR 0.714, 95% CI 0.602-0.847, respectively). During the study period, the proportion of infants with moderate-severe BPD fed any amount of human milk at discharge increased more than twofold. And the proportion of infants with moderate-severe BPD who were exclusively fed human milk at discharge increased at the same rate.

Conclusions: Our work shows an inverse relationship between human milk feeding at discharge from the neonatal unit and the occurrence of BPD.

Keywords: breastfeeding; bronchopulmonary dysplasia; extremely preterm; human milk feeding.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Moderate-severe BPD rates (%) over the study period. p < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
HM feeding at discharge over the study period in infants with moderate-severe BPD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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