229629 Premastication of Food for Infants: Findings from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II, United States, 2005-2007

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM

Emily Dauria, MPH , Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Tony Tong, MS , Information Systems Sector, Northrop Grumman, Atlanta, GA
Ken Dominguez, MD MPH , Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Epidemiology Branch Clinical Epidemiology Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Sherri L. Pals, PhD , Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Epidemiology Branch Clinical Epidemiology Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Sara B. Fein, PhD , Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, College Park, MD
Laurence Grummer-Strawn, PhD , National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Aditya Gaur, MD , Infectious Disease, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
Steven Nesheim, MD , Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Epidemiology Branch Clinical Epidemiology Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Charles Mitchell, MD , Pediatric Infectious Disease, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Background: Three infants were recently reported to have been HIV-infected through eating food prechewed by HIV-infected caregivers. We examined the prevalence of and factors influencing maternal premastication feeding practices amongst U.S. mothers in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II (IFPS II). Methods: The IFPS II was a longitudinal study following women from late pregnancy through their infant's first year of life. It surveyed expectant mothers once during late pregnancy, monthly for the first seven months after birth and then every seven weeks until the infant was 12 months old. This univariate analysis includes mothers who responded to≥1 premastication-related question. Results: The prevalence of prechewing food among female caregivers was 27% (376 of 1387). Those who were black non-Hispanic (OR=10.4; 95% CI 5.1, 21.2), living in poverty (OR=1.8; 95% CI 1.2, 2.7), residing in the Western U.S. (OR=2.3; 95% CI 1.6, 3.3), or had not graduated from high school (OR=3.3; 95% CI 1.3, 7.9) had the highest likelihoods of premastication. Conclusions: Although several factors including black race were associated with prechewing, blacks may deserve targeted education around prechew-related health risks. Compared with their white counterparts, reproductive age black females not only had a 10 times greater odds of having prechewed in IFPSII, but also had an 18 times higher likelihood of being HIV-infected according to the 2007 CDC HIV Surveillance Report. This may put black infants at increased risk of prechew-related HIV transmission. Further research is needed to expand our understanding of prechewing in the context of HIV globally.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1) Describe the prevalence of maternal premastication feeding practices amongst mothers in the US who participated in the Infant Feeding Practice Study II (IFPS II). 2) Understand the factors influencing maternal premastication feeding practices amongst mothers in the United States who participated in the Infant Feeding Practice Survey II (IFPS II).

Keywords: Maternal Health, HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a current doctoral student who worked as a graduate research assistant with the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on maternal and child health issues.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.