Abstract
Objective
Breastfeeding is a crucial moment for both mothers and child, providing a beneficial effect on child survival, nutrition, development and on maternal health. Despite the prevalent involvement of childbearing women in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), breastfeeding is still a neglected topic. The objective of this study was to evaluate breastfeeding frequency, duration and associated factors in SLE women.
Methods
We consecutively enrolled SLE pregnant women reporting demographic, clinical, serological, gynaecological and obstetric data. Breastfeeding experience was evaluated by using a specific questionnaire. Disease activity was assessed before and during pregnancy as well as during postpartum.
Results
A total of 57 pregnancies in 43 SLE women were included in the present study. In almost all the pregnancies, mothers planned to breastfeed their child (96.5%) and forty-one (71.9%) actually did breastfeed. The median time of breastfeeding was 3 months (IQR 7). Non-breastfeeding women showed a more frequent caesarean section (p = 0.0001), IUGR occurrence (p = 0.004) and disease relapse (p = 0.0001) after pregnancy. When comparing patients according with breastfeeding duration (cut-off 6 months), we found a significant more frequent smoking habitus (p = 0.02), caesarean section (p = 0.009), and joint involvement during postpartum (p = 0.0001) in women breastfeeding for less than or equal to 6 months, together with higher median BMI (p = 0.0001). Moreover, breastfeeding duration was positively associated with disease duration and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment during disease history, pregnancy and postpartum.
Conclusions
SLE women didn’t show lower breastfeeding rate in comparison with general population but they presented higher prevalence of early discontinuation within three months. Early interruption was positively associated with smoking, BMI, joint involvement; meanwhile disease duration and HCQ treatment during postpartum were positively associated with a longer breastfeeding duration.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
