relationship between breast feeding during childhood and blood pressure in early adulthood

Abstractintroduction: breastfeeding produces an important effect on the physiology of the body, metabolism and human clinical status. available evidence suggested that breastfeeding has a prophylactic effect on adiposity, blood pressure and other chronic diseases. thus, this study was conducted to determine the association between infant breastfeeding and blood pressure status in early adulthood.materials & methods: in this descriptive cross-sectional study, the sample size was determined to be 300, and the study data were collected through cluster sampling method in 2013. the data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, which its reliability and validity have been confirmed. the statistical analyses were performed using spss software (ver.16) applying independent t-test and anova.results: the mean systolic pressure and diastolic pressure were 113.6±13.1 and 72±11.6 respectively. the mean systolic and diastolic pressure in males was higher than females. moreover, increased bmi and age were associated with a significant growth in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. the present study demonstrated a significant positive correlation between systolic and diastolic blood pressure. however, the results did not show a significant relationship between duration or exclusivity of breastfeeding and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adulthood.conclusion: the study findings revealed no association between the duration or exclusivity of breastfeeding and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in later life.