Age of onset of hypertension and diabetes as an adult could be influenced by history of breastfeeding as an infant

Introduction Short-term health advantages associated with breastfeeding are both widely reported and readily accepted as scientifically credible, but evidence in support of breastfeeding's associations with long term health is limited. This study in a large African American cohort from Jackson, MS (N=5301) seeks to add to the body of evidence identifying specific cardiovascular disease-related risk factors' associations with breastfeeding history, e.g., HTN, Type 2 DM. Methods 62.5% (N=3371) of the participants, responded to the question “were you breastfed?” and 42.5% (N=2297) answered “how long were you breastfed?” Type 2 DM and HTN, and age of onset, were based on self-report and medication use. Survival analysis of age of onset of Type 2 DM and HTN was done to assess differences between BF+ and BF- participants. Results Age stratified data shows that breastfeeding prevalence increased with age and was less prevalent among those whose childhood environment reflected higher SES. BF- participants had earlier age of onset. Kaplan-Meier curves also showed evidence of a later onset of both Type 2 DM and HTN when any breastfeeding had occurred in infancy, with greatest significance between ages 35-60, p<0.0001. Conclusion The later age of onset of BF+ participants suggests that early childhood nutrition such as breastfeeding may confer long term health benefits. While recognizing this observational study's limitations of retrospective recall, cohort effect due to varied ages, and cross-sectional design, the findings suggest a possible inverse association of having been breastfed in infancy with adult onset of Type 2 DM and adult onset of HTN.