Breast‐feeding, social variables, and infant mortality: A hazards model analysis of the case of Malaysia

Abstract

This study is an attempt to use a hazards model to estimate the relative risks of mortality experienced at different periods during the first year of life among Malaysian infants breast‐fed for various durations. Data on mortality, breast‐feeding, and social variables were obtained from the retrospective Malaysian Family Life Survey and were used after checking for quality and consistency. Using LOGLIN to calculate hazards models, essentially multidimensional life‐tables, we found that breast‐feeding had an effect on mortality independent of socio‐economic variables and birth cohort. There was a monotonic relationship between breastfeeding duration and lower infant mortality during each of four subdivisions of the first year of life. Breast‐feeding was a statistically significant predictor of mortality in the first six months. The results are compared with those from the Rand study, which employed regression rather than hazards models.