Effect of infant feeding practices on iron status in a cohort study of Bolivian infants

BMC Pediatrics

Table 3 Association of Exclusive Breastfeeding to 6 months with Iron Deficiency (ID), Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), and Anemia^a (N = 270)

	ID			IDA			Anemia
	OR	95% CI	P value**	OR	95% CI	P value**	OR	95% CI	P value**
Length of exclusive breastfeeding ^b
< 4 months (ref.; N = 93)	1.00	–	0.015	1.00	–	0.25	1.00	–	0.57
4 - < 6 months (N = 156)	1.99	(1.17, 3.43)	–	1.39	(0.82, 2.40)	–	1.36	(0.74, 2.52)	–
≥ 6 months (N = 21)	3.25	(1.01, 12.27)	–	2.23	(0.72, 7.35)	–	1.49	(0.41, 7.19)	–
Covariates
Infant ≥7 months old at blood draw (vs. 6 mo.)	1.58	(0.94, 2.70)	0.088	1.89	(1.12, 3.22)	0.017	2.45	(1.32, 4.70)	0.005
Male sex (vs. female)	1.81	(1.07, 3.11)	0.029	2.48	(1.46, 4.29)	0.0009	2.73	(1.49, 5.11)	0.001
Birth weight^c	0.59	(0.45, 0.77)	0.0001	0.57	(0.43, 0.75)	0.0001	0.61	(0.46, 0.83)	0.0001
Maternal employment (vs. none)	0.51	(0.28, 0.91)	0.023	0.52	(0.28, 0.94)	0.033	0.67	(0.35, 1.31)	0.23
Mother has completed university education (vs. lower levels of education or no education)	0.32	(0.13, 0.75)	0.009	0.36	(0.15, 0.85)	0.023	1.57	(0.57, 5.14)	0.41

^aIron Deficiency defined as inflammation-corrected ferritin < 12 μg/L, see Methods. Anemia defined as altitude-corrected hemoglobin < 11 g/dL, see Methods. Iron Deficiency Anemia defined as Iron Deficiency plus Anemia. **Wald Chi-Square tests. ^bDefined as infant received no semi-solid or solid foods or non-breastmilk liquids until reaching 6 months of age. Based on maternal recall. ^c500g increase

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