The Role of Breastfeeding in Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Sudden Unexpected Infant Death: A Population-Based Study of 13 Million Infants in the United States

Abstract

Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) disproportionately affects non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and American Indian/Alaskan Native infants, who have lower rates of breastfeeding than other groups. Using 13,077,880 live-birth certificates and 11,942 linked SUID death certificates from 2015 through 2018, we calculated odds ratios and adjusted risk differences of SUID in infants who were not breastfed across 5 racial/ethnic strata in the United States. We analyzed mediation by not breastfeeding in the race/ethnicity-SUID association. The overall SUID rate was 0.91 per 1,000 live births. NHB and American Indian/Alaskan Native infants had the highest disparity in SUID relative to non-Hispanic White infants. Overall, not breastfeeding was associated with SUID (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.14; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10, 1.19), and the adjusted risk difference was 0.12 per 1,000 live births. The aOR of not breastfeeding for SUID was 1.07 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.14) in NHB infants and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.46) in Hispanic infants. Breastfeeding minimally explained the higher SUID risk in NHB infants (2.3% mediated) and the lower risk in Hispanic infants (2.1% mediated) relative to non-Hispanic White infants. Competing risks likely explain the lower aOR seen in NHB infants of not breastfeeding on SUID, suggesting that social or structural determinants must be addressed to reduce racial disparities in SUID.

Keywords: American Native; Black Americans; Hispanic Americans; breast feeding; health social determinant; health status disparities; infant mortality; sudden infant death.