Literature review for - Flourish Paediatrics

21 DIETARY PATTERNS (U1.1)
What dietary patterns, food groups (not nutrients) are associated with health and disease outcomes
in the general population and vulnerable groups including low socio economic status, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders and culturally and linguistically diverse groups, and those living in rural
and remote areas, without serious disease?
Gilchrist et al. (2004) reported smoking and infant feeding practices in a cohort of Indigenous mother
who delivered infants (n=425) at Perth hospital from 2000-2001. While they found high rates of
maternal smoking they did not find any relationship with lower rates of breastfeeding initiation or
duration at 24 weeks post-partum. They note the relationship between maternal smoking and low
infant birth weight.
Mackerras (2006) This editorial discussed the implications of a study by Binns et al. in 2006 in the
same journal issue and whether the higher rates of breastfeeding in the Indigenous population
described are confounded or not by virtue of using a sample of indigenous women delivering in a
publica hospital in Perth.
Binns (2006) The study documented the breastfeeding initiation and duration rates of Aboriginal
mothers (n=425) delivering in six public hospitals and followed them up for six months. At
discharge 89.4% (CI 86.6-92.1) of mothers were breastfeeding, declining to 58.8% (CI 53.5-64.1) at
six months. These rates were higher when compared with non-Aboriginal mothers, but lower than
the highest socioeconomic group. The authors reported that less than one-third of Aboriginal mothers
achieved the World Health Organization recommendation exclusive breastfeeding until the infant is
six months.
24 BREASTFEEDING (U1.5)
Search results
The initial search of the databases included 985 references for U1.5 What are the benefits of
breastfeeding (partial and exclusive) and the risks of not breastfeeding (any and exclusive), to
infants and mothers, both in the short term and long term? 292 reviews were retrieved and 101were
included but only eight higher quality reviews were used to form the body of evidence statements
and some additional papers from the 1.7 Endnote were used.
494