Breast Milk Defends Preterm Infants From Urinary Tract Infection

Dr. Itzhak Levy and his colleagues have defined the possible risk factors of uinary tract infections in preterm infants and the potential role of breast-feeding in their development.

They performed a case controlled study that was conducted in a tertiary care neonatal intensive care unit between 1995 and 2003. Their study group included all premature infants less than 37 weeks gestation diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. They were compared with a gestational age and birth weight matched infant population without UTIs. This group was used as the control group. They had twice as many control infants to case infants. A total of 6,198 premature infants were admitted to the NICU during this study period with 56 included in the study group.

It was found that the main organism present was a klebsiella species. They found that male gender played a role along with the presence of a peripheral IV - which was significantly associated with urinary tract infection. Interestingly, they found breast milk was associated with a lower risk of infection with a 95% confidence interval and P value less than 0.0009. It seems obvious that the maternal immunoglobulins passed through breast milk must have a protective effect.

Source-Newswise
PRI/L