Breastfeeding and risk of habitual snoring in children: A meta-analysis.

Research regarding the effects of breastfeeding on habitual snoring in children has yielded conflicting results. Therefore, a meta-analysis was carried out to evaluate the effect of breastfeeding on the risk of habitual snoring in children. Relevant studies published in English or Chinese were identified by a search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medical literature, and Wanfang databases up to October 2018. Random effects model was used to pool the findings, and results were expressed as odds ratios (OR) with 95% CIs. Eleven studies with 71,622 participants were included in the present meta-analysis. The pooled OR of habitual snoring for more versus less breastfeeding (duration) was 0.74 (95% CI [0.62, 0.90]), and the result remained significant in cohort studies (OR, 0.74; 95%CI [0.66, 0.84]). We found no evidence of publication bias. This meta-analysis of observational studies indicates that breastfeeding for a long time is associated with reduced risk of habitual snoring in children. The finding needs to be investigated in well-designed prospective studies.