Lifetime Duration of Breastfeeding and Cardiovascular Risk in Women With Type 2 Diabetes or a History of Gestational Diabetes: Findings From Two Large Prospective Cohorts

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Breastfeeding duration is inversely associated with risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes in parous women. However, the association among women at high risk, including women with type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is unclear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We included 15,146 parous women with type 2 diabetes from the Nurses’ Health Study I and II (NHS, NHS II) and 4,537 women with a history of GDM from NHS II. Participants reported history of breastfeeding via follow-up questionnaires. Incident CVD by 2017 comprised stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD) (myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization). Adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% CIs were estimated using Cox models. RESULTS We documented 1,159 incident CVD cases among women with type 2 diabetes in both cohorts during 188,874 person-years of follow-up and 132 incident CVD cases among women with a GDM history during 100,218 person-years of follow-up. Longer lifetime duration of breastfeeding was significantly associated with lower CVD risk among women with type 2 diabetes, with pooled aHR of 0.68 (95% CI 0.54–0.85) for >18 months versus 0 months and 0.94 (0.91–0.98) per 6-month increment in breastfeeding. Similar associations were observed with CHD (pooled aHR 0.93 [0.88–0.97]) but not with stroke (0.96 [0.91–1.02]) per 6-month increment in breastfeeding. Among women with GDM history, >18 months versus 0 months of breastfeeding was associated with an aHR of 0.49 (0.28–0.86) for total CVD. CONCLUSIONS Longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with lower risk of CVD in women with type 2 diabetes or GDM.