Associations between Breastfeeding and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Glycemic Control in Parous Women: A Nationwide, Population-Based Study

• Published in: Diabetes & metabolism journal 2019, 43(2), 172, pp.236-241
• Main Authors: Nam, Ga Eun, Han, Kyungdo, Kim, Do Hoon, Huh, Youn, Han, Byoungduck, Cho, Sung Jung, Park, Yong Gyu, Park, Yong Moon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: blood glucose; Blood Glucose - analysis; Breast Feeding; control; Cross-Sectional Studies; diabetes mellitus, type 2; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - blood; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - prevention & control; Fasting - blood; Female; Glycated Hemoglobin A - analysis; Humans; lactation; Logistic Models; Odds Ratio; Prevalence; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Risk Factors; Short Communication; Time Factors; 내과학
• ISSN: 2233-6079; 2233-6087
• DOI: 10.4093/dmj.2018.0044

We investigated associations between breastfeeding duration and number of children breastfed and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and glycemic control among parous women. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data for 9,960 parous women from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (2010 to 2013). Having ever breastfed was inversely associated with prevalent T2DM (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42 to 0.87). All ranges of total and average breastfeeding duration showed inverse associations with T2DM. Even short periods of breastfeeding were inversely associated with T2DM (adjusted OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.99 for a total breastfeeding duration ≤12 months; adjusted OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.99 for an average breastfeeding duration per child ≤6 months). A longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with better glycemic control in parous women with T2DM ( trend=0.004 for total breastfeeding duration; trend