Breastfeeding and maternal cardiovascular risk factors: 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort

Natália P Lima,Fernando C Barros,Diego G Bassani,Bernardo L Horta,Elma Izze S Magalhães

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-49576-1

Abstract

This study evaluated the association of breastfeeding duration with maternal metabolic cardiovascular risk factors among women who have been prospectively followed since birth in a southern Brazilian city. In the unadjusted analysis, total cholesterol was higher among women who never breastfed in relation to those who breastfed ≥12 months. Among women with one livebirth, a shorter duration of breastfeeding was associated with lower HDL, while those with two or more livebirths and that breastfed for shorter time presented lower pulse wave velocity, glycaemia and non-HDL measures. After controlling for confounding variables, the magnitude of these associations decreased, and the confidence intervals included the reference. Concerning the duration of breastfeeding of the last child, the analysis was stratified by time since last birth. After controlling for confounders, systolic blood pressure was lower among women who breastfed 3 to <6 months and had a child within the last five years in relation to those who breastfed ≥6, but no clear trend was observed (p = 0.17). In conclusion, our findings suggest that there is no association between lactation and maternal cardiometabolic risk factors.

Highlights

Beyond the known short[1] and long-term benefits[2,3] for the breastfed children, it has been reported that breastfeeding would be associated with maternal health, women who breastfeed have lower risk of breast cancer and higher birth spacing due to lactational amenorrhea[4]
Because cardiovascular risk factors are associated with socioeconomic status[24,25,26,27] and most studies adjusted the estimates for few socioeconomic confounders, perhaps not capturing its entire dimension, the possibility of residual confounding by socioeconomic status must be considered
We aimed at assessing the association of breastfeeding duration with maternal metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease among parous women who have been prospectively followed since birth in a southern Brazilian city, a setting where no strong social patterning of breastfeeding exists

Summary

Introduction

Beyond the known short[1] and long-term benefits[2,3] for the breastfed children, it has been reported that breastfeeding would be associated with maternal health, women who breastfeed have lower risk of breast cancer and higher birth spacing due to lactational amenorrhea[4]. Because cardiovascular risk factors are associated with socioeconomic status[24,25,26,27] and most studies adjusted the estimates for few socioeconomic confounders (e.g. only for schooling), perhaps not capturing its entire dimension, the possibility of residual confounding by socioeconomic status must be considered. We aimed at assessing the association of breastfeeding duration with maternal metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease among parous women who have been prospectively followed since birth in a southern Brazilian city, a setting where no strong social patterning of breastfeeding exists

Methods

Results

Conclusion