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. 2025 Apr 21.
doi: 10.1038/s41372-025-02296-z. Online ahead of print.

Exclusive human milk diet is associated with lower risk of motor function impairment at three years of corrected age

Fu-Sheng Chou  1   2   3   4 , Jing Zhang  5 , Maria Fe B Villosis  6   7   8 , Ashwini Lakshmanan  7
Affiliations

Exclusive human milk diet is associated with lower risk of motor function impairment at three years of corrected age

Fu-Sheng Chou et al. J Perinatol. .

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the association between an exclusive human milk diet (EHMD) and motor function impairment at three years of corrected age among infants born before 32 weeks of gestation.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study between 2018 and 2021. We assigned to the EHMD group infants who received an EHMD for ≥75% of the days between the first day of diet fortification and 33 6/7 weeks postmenstrual age. We used inverse propensity scores to balance potential confounders and developed a mixed-effects logistic regression model to assess the association.

Results: After adjusting for demographics and morbidities, an EHMD was associated with a reduced risk of motor function impairment, with an odds ratio of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.56-0.98, p = 0.036).

Conclusions: An EHMD is associated with a decrease in the odds of early childhood motor function impairment among infants born before 32 weeks of gestation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This data-only study was approved by the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Institutional Review Board, with an exemption from the requirement for informed consent. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

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