Journal article
Breastfeeding and child disability: A comparison of siblings from the United States
Economics and human biology, Vol.15, pp.13-22
12/2014
DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2014.05.004
PMID: 25434512
Abstract
•Breastfeeding duration is associated with a reduced risk of child disability.•An additional month of breastfeeding is associated with decrease in disability risk by 0.2 percentage-points.•Very short breastfeeding durations are unlikely to have an effect on reducing disability risk.
Little is known about whether breastfeeding may prevent disabilities throughout childhood. We evaluate the effects of breastfeeding on child disability using data from the National Survey of Family Growth merged to the National Health Interview Survey for a large nationally representative sample of children aged 1–18 years from the U.S. including over 3000 siblings who are discordant on breastfeeding status/duration. We focus on a mother fixed effect model that compares siblings in order to account for family-level unobservable confounders and employ multiple specifications including a dynamic model that accounts for disability status of the prior child. Breastfeeding the child for a longer duration is associated with a lower risk of child disability, by about 0.2 percentage-points per month of breastfeeding. This effect is only observed on the intensive margin among breastfed children, as any breastfeeding has no effect on the extensive margin. We conclude that very short breastfeeding durations are unlikely to have an effect on reducing disability risk.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Breastfeeding and child disability: A comparison of siblings from the United States
- Creators
- George L Wehby - University of Iowa, Departments of Health Management and Policy and Economics, 105 River St, CPHB, N248, Iowa City, IA, United States
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Economics and human biology, Vol.15, pp.13-22
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ehb.2014.05.004
- PMID
- 25434512
- ISSN
- 1570-677X
- eISSN
- 1873-6130
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/2014
- Academic Unit
- Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Economics; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984063129002771
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