title: Effect of breast feeding on ocular morbidity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the effect of human milk on ocular morbidity in infants who did not breast feed during the first 6 months of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective randomized study included 154 subjects who were first or second grade elementary school students, 66-84 month of age. These children were randomly selected from 2080 students during health screenings. All of them were born at term and were normal birth weight. The study was composed of 3 age- and sex-matched groups. Group 1 included 52 subjects who had never been breast fed. Group 2 included 42 subjects who were breast fed and also received additional food (infant formula). Group 3 included 60 subjects who were only breast fed until 6 months old (no formula) except for the first month of life. All subjects underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and any morbidity was recorded. Frequencies of ocular morbidity were compared among the groups by using the chi-squared test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant refractive errors in 12 (23%) subjects in Group 1 (no breast feeding). There was no significant refractive error in Group 2 (breast feeding and formula) and Group 3 (breast feeding only). The difference among the groups was statistically significant (p=0.014, chi-squared test). Allergic conjunctivitis was found in 5 subjects in Group 1, 3 in Group 2, and 2 in Group 3. There was no significant difference among the groups (p=0.395).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Refractive errors were more frequent in Group 1 (no breast feeding) than in Group 2 (breast feeding and formula) or Group 3 (breast feeding only). There is a need to confirm this finding by performing studies with larger sample sizes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
authors.forename: Lokman
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aslankurt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gul
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology