Breast milk vitamin B12 concentration and incidence of diarrhea and respiratory infections among infants in urban Tanzania: a prospective cohort study

Table 2 Breast milk vitamin B12 as a predictor of ARI and diarrhea among infants in Urban Tanzania

		Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis^a
		Relative risk (95% CI)	P-value	Relative risk (95% CI)	P-value
Acute respiratory infection
Breast milk vitamin B12 status
Adequate intake (≥ 310 pmol/L)	146	Ref		Ref
Less than adequate intake (< 310 pmol/L)	345	1.04 (0.93, 1.17)	0.49	1.01 (0.90, 1.14)	0.85
Quartiles of breast milk vitamin B12 (pmol/L)
Q4 (more than or equal 339)	122	Ref	0.95	Ref	0.75
Q3 (206–338)	125	1.04 (0.90, 1.20)		1.01 (0.87, 1.17)
Q2 (169–205)	127	0.95 (0.82, 1.11)		0.93 (0.80, 1.08)
Q1 (less than 169)	116	1.04 (0.89, 1.20)		1.00 (0.86, 1.16)

Diarrheal disease		Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis (N = 471)^b
Diarrheal disease		Incidence rate ratio (95% CI)	P-value	Incidence rate ratio (95% CI)	p-value
Breast milk vitamin B12 status
Adequate intake (≥ 310 pmol/L)	139	Ref		Ref
Less than adequate intake (< 310 pmol/L)	325	0.99 (0.90, 1.08)	0.77	0.95 (0.86, 1.05)	0.30
Quartiles of Breast milk vitamin B12 (pmol/L)
Q4 (more than or equal 339)	117	Ref	0.54	Ref	0.06
Q3 (206–338)	115	0.94 (0.83, 1.06)		0.95 (0.84, 1.07)
Q2 (169–205)	123	1.07 (0.95, 1.21)		1.02 (0.91, 1.15)
Q1 (less than 169)	109	0.91 (0.80, 1.03)		0.85 (0.75, 0.97)

Estimates and p-values based on generalized estimating equations (GEE) with the log link and the binomial distribution, with a working exchangeable correlation structure
^aMultivariable model include child sex, birth weight and linear maternal hemoglobin at 6 weeks postpartum
^bMultivariable model include maternal treatment arm, maternal education, maternal wealth score, baseline BMI, and linear maternal hemoglobin at 6 weeks postpartum. Estimates and p-values based on generalized estimating equations (GEE) with the log link and the Poisson distribution, with an independent correlation structure

ISSN: 1756-0500