Tuoyire Derek Anamaale, Tampah-Naah Anthony Mwinilanaa
Department of Community Medicine, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Department of Geography, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa, Ghana.
Front Glob Womens Health. 2024 Sep 16;5:1251849. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1251849. eCollection 2024.
There is a general concurrence on the health benefits that breastfeeding confers to children, including offering maximal protection against obesity across their life course. However, the scientific evidence on similar benefits for women who breastfeed their children remains inconclusive. This study contributes to the discourse by examining the association of breastfeeding duration with overweight and obesity among women in Ghana.
Data on 8,516 women of reproductive age were pooled from the last five (5) Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, and analysed using descriptive proportions and logistic regression models.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity was about 8% lower for women who breastfed their children beyond 18 months (overweight = 13%, obesity = 5%) compared with women who did not breastfeed (overweight = 21%, obesity = 13%) their children at all. With reference to women who did not breastfeed their children, a significant lower odds of obesity was observed for those who breastfed their children for 13-18 months (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.268, 0.864) and >18 months (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.216, 0.764), after adjusting for possible confounding factors.
Women who breastfeed their children for a minimum of 12 months have lower risk of developing obesity. Promoting prolonged breastfeeding among mothers could be an effective pathway to preventing obesity among women in Ghana.
人们普遍认同母乳喂养对儿童健康有益，包括在其一生中提供最大程度的肥胖预防保护。然而，关于母乳喂养对女性的类似益处的科学证据仍不确凿。本研究通过调查加纳女性母乳喂养持续时间与超重和肥胖之间的关联，为这一讨论做出了贡献。
从最近五次加纳人口与健康调查中汇总了8516名育龄妇女的数据，并使用描述性比例和逻辑回归模型进行分析。
与完全不母乳喂养孩子的女性（超重=21%，肥胖=13%）相比，母乳喂养孩子超过18个月的女性（超重=13%，肥胖=5%）超重和肥胖的患病率低约8%。与不母乳喂养孩子的女性相比，在调整可能的混杂因素后，母乳喂养孩子13至18个月（OR=0.46，95%CI=0.268，0.864）和超过18个月（OR=0.41，95%CI=0.216，0.764）的女性肥胖几率显著降低。
母乳喂养孩子至少12个月的女性患肥胖症的风险较低。促进母亲延长母乳喂养可能是加纳女性预防肥胖的有效途径。
