The Association Between the Duration of Breastfeeding in Infancy and Adult Psychopathology: A Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey

AIM

To evaluate the association of duration of breastfeeding in infancy and adulthood psychiatric disorders, sexual problems, and clinical features of patients in the Turkish population.

METHOD

A sample of 166 patients with depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or trauma and stressor-related disorders were consecutively gathered from the outpatient clinic in March-May 2021 in a cross-sectional descriptive study. The patients with a breastfeeding time of fewer than 6 months and equal or more than 6 months were compared in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, scale scores, and current or lifelong psychiatric disorders.

RESULTS

The percentages of the history of psychiatric disorder (p = .009), the number of comorbid psychiatric disorders (p = .020), and the patients diagnosed with current (p = .001) and lifetime (p = .004) panic disorder or lifetime vaginismus (p = .019) were significantly higher in the patients with a breastfeeding time fewer than 6 months compared to the patients with more than 6 months. While the duration of maternal (p = .010) and paternal education (p = .004) was significantly higher, the birth order was significantly lower (p = .010) in the patients with a breastfeeding time of fewer than 6 months compared to the patients with more than 6 months.

CONCLUSION

Breastfeeding time of more than 6 months seems favorable in terms of the absence of current or lifetime psychiatric disorder, especially panic disorder and vaginismus, compared to the patients with fewer than 6 months.