Abstract
Objective: To investigate the social, demographic and biological factors contributing towards exclusive breastfeeding duration in Pakistan. Study Design: For current study, secondary data from cross sectional Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012 - 13 was used. Place and Duration of Study: Data was collected from Pakistan from October 2012 to March 2013. Material and Methods: Log Rank test and Cox Proportional Hazards Regression model was employed for the analysis. Results: Hazard ratios of significant factors of exclusive breastfeeding are: youngest mothers (RR=1.001), mothers aged 20-34 (RR=0.925), mothers who belonged to middle class (RR= 0.856), poorest mothers (RR= 1.168), mothers who lived in urban areas (RR=1.211), mothers assisted by doctor at delivery (RR=1.340), mothers who had their babies by normal delivery (RR=0.701), and mothers who had less than 24 months of preceding birth interval (RR=1.141). Conclusion: Maternal age, wealth index, place of residence, assistance at delivery by doctor, delivery by caesarean section and preceding birth interval are significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding duration. It can be concluded that modernization factors are playing predominant role for shorter exclusive breastfeeding duration like urbanization, cesarean births, short birth spacing and doctor assisted deliveries
