Presentation Title

P-24 Disparities of Breastfeeding patterns between Black and White Adventist Women in North America. Results from the Adventist Health Study (AHS) - 2

Presenter Status

Research Coordinator, Department of Physical Therapy

Second Presenter Status

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Population Medicine, School of Public Health

Third Presenter Status

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Population Medicine, School of Public Health

Fourth Presenter Status

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Population Medicine, School of Public Health

Fifth Presenter Status

Department of Global Health, School of Public Health

Sixth Presenter Status

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Population Medicine, School of Public Health

Preferred Session

Poster Session

Start Date

30-10-2015 2:00 PM

End Date

30-10-2015 3:00 PM

Presentation Abstract

Background: Racial disparities of breast feeding have been reported in various studies, but few have evaluated the factors associated with racial discrepancies in breastfeeding.

Method: We evaluated breastfeeding patterns among 26,926 white and 10,550 black parous females, aged 30 years and above, who were enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2. We evaluated: 1) initiation of breastfeeding and 2) length (months/child) of breastfeeding using log linear binomial and multiple linear regression, respectively adjusting for age, education, parity, body mass index, marital status, country lived during young adult life (age 6-16), oral contraceptive use and dietary patterns.

Results: Black women were less likely to initiate breastfeeding than white women (Prevalence Ratio=0.87, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.86-0.89) and breastfed on average 1.2 months shorter per child than white women. Older women were less likely to have breastfed their children (PR=0.97, 0.91, 0.87 and 0.95 for ages 41-50, 51-60, 61-70 and 80+ respectively compared to 30-40 year olds. Vegetarians were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than non-vegetarians (Prevalence ratio= 1.07-1.12).

Conclusions: The racial difference on breastfeeding exist and remained virtually unchanged even after adjusting for a number of socio-economic factors including age, marital status, education and place lived during childhood and adolescence. The observed racial disparity warrants further study into possible factors that can explain the differences seen. Attitudes towards breastfeeding, in particular, need to be investigated among black and white females in the US.

Key words: disparity, blacks, white women, breastfeeding, Adventists, North America.

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COinS
 
Oct 30th, 2:00 PM Oct 30th, 3:00 PM

P-24 Disparities of Breastfeeding patterns between Black and White Adventist Women in North America. Results from the Adventist Health Study (AHS) - 2

Background: Racial disparities of breast feeding have been reported in various studies, but few have evaluated the factors associated with racial discrepancies in breastfeeding.

Method: We evaluated breastfeeding patterns among 26,926 white and 10,550 black parous females, aged 30 years and above, who were enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2. We evaluated: 1) initiation of breastfeeding and 2) length (months/child) of breastfeeding using log linear binomial and multiple linear regression, respectively adjusting for age, education, parity, body mass index, marital status, country lived during young adult life (age 6-16), oral contraceptive use and dietary patterns.

Results: Black women were less likely to initiate breastfeeding than white women (Prevalence Ratio=0.87, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.86-0.89) and breastfed on average 1.2 months shorter per child than white women. Older women were less likely to have breastfed their children (PR=0.97, 0.91, 0.87 and 0.95 for ages 41-50, 51-60, 61-70 and 80+ respectively compared to 30-40 year olds. Vegetarians were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than non-vegetarians (Prevalence ratio= 1.07-1.12).

Conclusions: The racial difference on breastfeeding exist and remained virtually unchanged even after adjusting for a number of socio-economic factors including age, marital status, education and place lived during childhood and adolescence. The observed racial disparity warrants further study into possible factors that can explain the differences seen. Attitudes towards breastfeeding, in particular, need to be investigated among black and white females in the US.

Key words: disparity, blacks, white women, breastfeeding, Adventists, North America.