Influence of 1991-1995 war on breast-feeding in Croatia: questionnaire study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of 1991-1995 war on the prevalence, duration, and practice of breast-feeding Croatian children up to 5 years of age.


METHODS
In 1996, interviews were conducted in households with children up to 2 years of age (757 children) and 2-5 years of age (1,180 children). Data for war-free areas, war-affected areas, and areas liberated after several years of occupation were analyzed separately.


RESULTS
In 1996, 94.6% of mothers started breast-feeding, which lasted for an average of 3.4+/-2.9 months. The proportion of mothers who started breast-feeding did not vary with respect to either war-related or geographic areas of the country. Breast-feeding was significantly longer in war-free than in war-affected areas (3.7+/-3.1 vs. 2.7+/-2.1 months, respectively; p=0.015). The duration of breast-feeding in Croatia's geographic regions, Istria, Hrvatsko Primorje, and Gorski Kotar, was significantly longer than in Slavonia (3.9+/-3.4 vs. 3.4+/-3.0, respectively; p=0.037). On the country level, 49.4% of babies were fed on demand and 43.3% according to a daily schedule. The percent of children who were not breast-fed was significantly higher (p=0. 002) in the older age group (2-5 years of age, 9.3%) than in the younger age group (up to 2 years of age, 5.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
The war decreased the prevalence and duration of breast-feeding, which might be related to regular humanitarian donations of infant food and mother's milk substitutes, especially in the war-affected areas. UNICEF breast-feeding campaign, which started in 1993, appeared to be effective.
Zakanj
Z
Z
Zagreb Children Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia. zorazakanj@hotmail.com
Armano
G
G
Grgurić
J
J
Herceg-Cavrak
V
V
D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017523:Croatia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014857:Warfare