Disparities in exclusive breastfeeding by current maternal employment status in Peru, 2005-2023: a…

Cross-sectionalFrontiers in global women's health· 2026

Disparities in exclusive breastfeeding by current maternal employment status in Peru, 2005-2023: a cross-sectional analysis of ENDES data.

Lily Mabel Portal-Valqui, Kevin Cusma-Regalado, Jhofree Einstein Briceño-Chavez … Víctor Juan Vera-Ponce

Pediatric Gastroenterology & NutritionCross-sectionalClinical practiceQ2IF 2.3

Formal-sector employment associated with lower exclusive breastfeeding prevalence among Peruvian mothers

Disparities in exclusive breastfeeding by current maternal employment status in Peru, 2005-2023: a cross-sectional analysis of ENDES data.

Lily Mabel Portal-Valqui … Víctor Juan Vera-Ponce

Frontiers in global women's health · 2026 · Q2 in General Medicine

Background

Exclusive breastfeeding (exclusive breastfeeding) improves child survival and maternal health, but structural and employment-related conditions may affect its continuity.

Purpose

To estimate descriptive disparities in exclusive breastfeeding prevalence by current maternal employment status and describe their temporal and territorial patterns in Peru from 2005 to 2023.

Methods

We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study using pooled data from the Peruvian Demographic and Family Health Survey [Encuesta Demográfica y de Salud Familiar (ENDES)] from 2005 to 2023.

n = 15,101

Results

formal-sector employment linked to lower exclusive breastfeeding, even after adjustment

adjusted PR 0.72 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.79)

null 0

0.65

0.79

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

The revised weighted prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 72.6%.

In the complete-case model sample ( n = 15,101), exclusive breastfeeding prevalence was 76.2% among mothers with no current survey-defined employment, 46.5% among mothers with current active formal-sector employment, and 74.2% among mothers with current active informal-sector employment.

More results

Current active informal-sector employment showed little difference after adjustment (adjusted prevalence ratios = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.94-1.00).

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

In this descriptive cross-sectional analysis, current active formal-sector employment was associated with lower exclusive breastfeeding prevalence.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings identify mothers actively participating in formal-sector work as a group requiring further evaluation of employment-compatible breastfeeding support, without implying causal effects of labor formality or direct evidence about specific workplace or health policies.

Disparities in exclusive breastfeeding by current maternal employment status in Peru, 2005-2023: a cross-sectional analysis of ENDES data.

Disparities in exclusive breastfeeding by current maternal employment status in Peru, 2005-2023: a cross-sectional analysis of ENDES data.

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