title: Is breastfeeding protective for blood pressure in schoolchildren? A cohort study in northeast Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study assessed the influence of breastfeeding and nutritional status of full-term infants on blood pressure at school age.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort of 375 infants recruited at birth between 1993 and 1994 in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. A sample of 213 8-year-old children had their blood pressure measured. A multivariate linear regression analysis was used to identify the influence of low birth weight and breastfeeding duration on blood pressure, adjusting for socioeconomic conditions, maternal nutritional status, eating habits, growth rate (0-6 months), and the children's anthropometry at 8 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean values of children's blood pressure were significantly higher with lower duration of breastfeeding. Higher per capita family income, maternal body mass index and height, child's weight and length at birth, and child anthropometric dimensions at 8 years of age were associated with higher levels of blood pressure. The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that children who were breastfed for less than 40 days had higher systolic blood pressures, explaining 2.2% of its variation. Anthropometry at 8 years of age explained the higher variance in systolic blood pressure (12.6%) with emphasis on waist circumference (9.5%), followed by per capita income (3.2%) and maternal height (2.1%). Birth weight and length had no influence on blood pressure levels in this age group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children's waist circumference, duration of breastfeeding, socioeconomic conditions, and maternal nutritional status influenced blood pressure levels of schoolchildren born full term, rather than low birth weight.
authors.affiliation: 1 Mother and Child, Federal University of Pernambuco , Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil .
authors.forename: Rosemary de Jesus Machado
authors.initials: Rde J
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.forename: Alexsandra Ferreira da Costa
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.forename: Pedro Israel Cabral
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: de Lira
authors.forename: Marilia de Carvalho
authors.initials: Mde C
authors.lastname: Lima
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors