Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration Among Primiparous Black Women.

Social determinants of health account for racial inequities in breastfeeding rates in the United States. There is a gap in the role of neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) as it relates to breastfeeding disparities. Using longitudinal data from the Black Women's Health Study, we assessed associations of NSES with breastfeeding initiation and duration in a cohort of primiparous U.S. Black women. We also explored associations within strata of important economic indicators, including education, occupation, and marital status. Breastfeeding initiation ( = 2,705) increased with NSES quartile, from 75.2% in the lowest quartile to 88.3% in the highest quartile ( < 0.0001). Compared with women living in the highest NSES quartile, those in the lowest quartile had a 41% (odds ratio: 0.59 [95% confidence interval: 0.43, 0.81]) decreased odds of initiating breastfeeding. For breastfeeding duration ( = 2,172), women residing in NSES quartiles 1-3 were significantly less likely ( < 0.0001) to breastfeed (44.4%) for 6+ months compared with those living in the highest quartile (62.8%). Adjusted relative risks for those in quartiles 1-3 compared with 4 (highest) were 0.63 (0.45, 0.87), 0.50 (0.37, 0.68), and 0.64 (0.47, 0.86), respectively ( = 0.0001). There was no statistically significant evidence of effect modification by education, occupation, marital status, and region ( = >0.05). Living in a lower NSES environment was associated with reduced breastfeeding initiation and duration compared with a higher NSES environment. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which neighborhood-level factors influence breastfeeding initiation and duration for Black women in the United States.