Title |
Rural and Urban Breastfeeding Initiation Trends in Low-Income Women in North Carolina from 2003 to 2007
|
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Published in |
Journal of Human Lactation, January 2012
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DOI | 10.1177/0890334411430086 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Suzanne Lynch, Jeffrey Bethel, Najmul Chowdhury, Justin B. Moore |
Abstract |
Breastfeeding has extensive health benefits for both infants and mothers. Despite these benefits, a significant number of women, disproportionately low-income women, do not initiate breastfeeding. Previous research has also demonstrated that breastfeeding prevalence varies by urbanicity level. The objective was to examine race/ethnicity and urbanicity trends in breastfeeding initiation among low-income women in North Carolina from 2003 to 2007. Breastfeeding initiation data from the North Carolina Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System were utilized, with responses from 240,054 women over the 5-year period. Overall, 65.4% of women in mixed-urban counties and 62.1% of women in urban counties initiated breastfeeding compared to only 49.8% of women in rural counties. The disparity between rural and urban counties widened over time, with urban and mixed-urban counties making significantly greater gains in breastfeeding initiation than rural counties. Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women had 6.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.99-6.36) and 1.4 (95% CI, 1.46-1.53) times the odds of initiating breastfeeding as non-Hispanic blacks, respectively. Finally, stratified multivariate regression models identified that the association between race/ethnicity and breastfeeding varied by urbanicity level. The current study provides a clearer picture of rural and urban breastfeeding trends within North Carolina and has implications for states with similar racial/ethnic and urbanicity levels. The research determined that women in rural areas, particularly non-Hispanic blacks, are less likely to initiate breastfeeding. Increased emphasis should be placed on developing breastfeeding interventions for rural communities, particularly targeting the non-Hispanic black population. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 49 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 7 | 14% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 5 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 10% |
Student > Master | 5 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 3 | 6% |
Other | 9 | 18% |
Unknown | 15 | 31% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Nursing and Health Professions | 12 | 24% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 10 | 20% |
Social Sciences | 6 | 12% |
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 2% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 2% |
Other | 2 | 4% |
Unknown | 17 | 35% |