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Association of Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration and Fibrinogen Levels in Childhood and Adolescence: The European Youth Heart Study

I Labayen, FB Ortega, JR Ruiz, HM Loit... - Archives of Pediatrics ..., 2012 - Am Med Assoc Objective To examine the association of exclusive breastfeeding (BF) duration on serum fibrinogen levels of children and adolescents from Estonia and Sweden, controlling for other potential confounding factors that could mediate in this relationship.

Several studies have examined the relationship between BF and low-grade inflammation markers in adolescents and adults; however, as far as we are aware, this is the first study examining the programming effect of early BF on low-grade inflammation in a relatively large sample of children and providing data about the effect of duration of exclusive BF. Our results confirm the results of Singhal et al,14 who found lower levels of low-grade inflammation, as estimated by CRP levels, in 216 preterm-born adolescents who were breastfed for 4 weeks than in those fed with preterm formula. We also extend this observation to a larger and nonspecific population (ie, nonselected according to their gestational age) of apparently healthy children and adolescents. In the study by Vérier et al,16 CRP levels were only marginally associated (P = .1) with BF duration after adjustment for CVD risk factors, whereas our results persisted after controlling for total cholesterol and triglyceride levels and blood pressure. This discrepancy in the results could be a result of the sample size. Indeed, they found that adolescents who had been breastfed for at least 6 months (n = 116) showed lower CRP concentrations than those who had not been breastfed (n = 90). The study by Williams et al13 conducted in a group of 375 women aged 26 years also showed that any BF for at least 6 months was associated with lower CRP levels, in agreement with Vérier et al.16 The results provided by 2 previous studies conducted in older adults were controversial.4 ,15 Likewise, in a large study performed in adults (9377 subjects, aged 44-45 years), Rudnicka et al4 found that any BF for at least 1 month was associated with lower CRP and fibrinogen levels in women, whereas Martin et al15 did not find any relationship between BF and inflammation in another study of adult men (n = 1062 men), although the authors acknowledged that selection and recall bias (more than 50 years since birth) may have affected their results.