Relationship between breast feeding in infancy with blood pressure in early adult life

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that breast feeding reduces blood pressure
(BP) in childhood, but association of breast feeding and BP in adulthood is not clear.
The aim of this study was to evaluate association between breast feeding in infancy
with BP in early adult life.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was done through random sampling on 384
students aged 18-32 years in Azad university of Semnan. Confounding variables were
recorded in questionnaire by interview. At the first time, height and weight were
measured. BP was measured in three sessions (morning, noon, evening) every other
day. Duration of breast feeding was categorized into three groups (below 3 month or
formula fed, 3-5 months, ≥ 6 months). Data was evaluated statistically by Chisquare
and One-way ANOVA test.
Results: Of 483 cases, 214 were male and 170 were female. The difference
between mean age, number of smoking and BMI were not significant in three
groups. Also the 3 groups were fully adjusted for sex distribution, family history
of hypertension and high blood sugar. There was no significant difference in
systolic and diastolic BP between 3 groups.
Conclusion: There is no association between breast feeding in infancy and blood
pressure in early adult lefe.