Incidence of Postnatal CMV Infection among Breastfed Preterm Infants: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Hye Won Park, Myung Hyun Cho, Sun Hwan Bae, Ran Lee, Kyo Sun Kim
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the incidence of breast milk-acquired cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in preterm infants born to CMV-seropositive mothers. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched using the terms: ("breast feeding" or "breast milk" or "human milk" or "breast") and ("HCMV" or "cytomegalovirus") and ("infant, extremely premature" or "premature birth" or "newborn" or "neonate" or "low birth weight" or "very low birth weight" or "premature" or "preterm infant"). Studies that had information on CMV status and breast feeding were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis examined the rate of breast milk-acquired CMV infections in preterm infants with CMV-seropositive mothers; the CMV infection rate was higher in preterm infants fed fresh breast milk. Until further data are available, we cautiously suggest the use of freeze-thawed breast milk, rather than fresh breast milk, for preterm infants or very low birth weight infants.