"Our study shows that breastfeeding, particularly among those with gestational diabetes, is associated with a lower risk for heart disease after delivery," said the study's lead author Christine Field, MD, maternal fetal medicine physician at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State College of Medicine. "Together with prior research, our findings emphasize the value of postpartum counseling on breastfeeding and long-term health."
The study assessed the risk for heart problems, including heart attacks and stroke, at 10-14 years post-delivery and 30-years post-delivery. Both the 10- and 30-year lifetime estimated cardiovascular risk were lower for those who breastfed compared with those who did not.
Data for the study was analyzed from the international Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) follow-up study of 4,540 mothers. Of those women, more than three-fourths (nearly 80 percent) reported breastfeeding their newborn. The median age of women was 30 years.
"This study reinforces that breastfeeding is important for postpartum heart health, especially for women who experienced gestational diabetes," said the study's senior author Kartik Venkatesh, MD, PhD, maternal fetal medicine physician, epidemiologist, associate professor and director of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. "Further interventions and programs are needed to support women and their infants to breastfeed and emphasize the critical connection between breastfeeding and maternal heart health."
The HAPO study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the American Diabetes Association.
Other study authors hail from Brown University, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
