title: Household food security and breast-feeding duration among Canadian Inuit.
abstract: There have been few studies investigating the association between food security and breast-feeding duration and none have been conducted among Canadian Inuit, a population disproportionately burdened with food insecurity. We evaluated the association between household food security and breast-feeding duration in Canadian Inuit children.
  
  
  
  Data were obtained from the Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey, a population-based cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  
  The Canadian Territory of Nunavut in 2007 and 2008.
  
  
  
  Caregivers of Inuit children aged 3-5 years. Participating children were randomly sampled from community medical centre lists.
  
  
  
  Out of 215 children, 147 lived in food-insecure households (68·4 %). Using restricted mean survival time models, we estimated that children in food-secure households were breast-fed for 16·8 (95 % CI 12·5, 21·2) months and children in food-insecure households were breast-fed for 21·4 (95 % CI 17·9, 24·8) months. In models adjusting for social class, traditional knowledge and child health, household food security was not associated with breast-feeding duration (hazard ratio=0·82, 95 % CI 0·58, 1·14).
  
  
  
  Our research does not support the hypothesis that children living in food-insecure households were breast-fed for a longer duration than children living in food-secure households. However, we found that more than 50 % of mothers in food-insecure households continued breast-feeding well beyond 1 year. Many mothers in food-secure households also continued to breast-feed beyond 1 year. Given the high prevalence of food insecurity in Inuit communities, we need to ensure infants and their caregivers are being adequately nourished to support growth and breast-feeding, respectively.
authors.affiliation: 1Dalla Lana School of Public Health,University of Toronto,30 Bond Street,Toronto,Ontario,Canada,M5B 1W8.
authors.forename: Kathryn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: McIsaac
authors.affiliation: 1Dalla Lana School of Public Health,University of Toronto,30 Bond Street,Toronto,Ontario,Canada,M5B 1W8.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.affiliation: 1Dalla Lana School of Public Health,University of Toronto,30 Bond Street,Toronto,Ontario,Canada,M5B 1W8.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lou
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D004930:Inuit; D059012:Lost to Follow-Up; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Breast-feeding; Food insecurity; Inuit; Restricted mean survival time