ESPE Abstracts

Purpose: The purpose of the study was determination the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and duration of breastfeeding in Azerbaijani children

Material and method: This study was conducted retrospectively on 415 children aged 2-18 years who applied to our clinic in 2017-2023. Children without chronic diseases were selected by checking the anamnesis of disease, operation and trauma, birth characteristics, physical examination records, neurological development, laboratory and instrumental diagnostic results. The SDS value of the body mass indices recorded during the visit to the clinic with the period of drinking breast milk was statistically analyzed with the "SPSS 15.0 for Windows" program.

Results: The average age of the evaluated children was 11.9 ± 0.5 years, 40% of those studied were girls (n = 166), 60% (n = 249) were boys. Those who received breast milk for less than 3 months were 30.9% (n = 127), the rate of breastfeeding for 3-6 months was 9.1% (n = 37), those who were receiving breast milk for more than 6 months were 43.9% (n = 180), 15.9% (n = 65) did not receive breast milk at all. According to BMI SDS values, 67.1% of children included in the study were normal weight, 8.8% were underweight, 24.1% were overweight (14.9% were overweight, 9.2% were obese). The average duration of breastfeeding was 0.74 ± 0.25 years (mode 3 months (0.25 years)). As a result of the study, a significant correlation was determined between the duration of breastfeeding and BMI SDS (according to the WHO BMI SDS scale for children) (P <0.03).

Conclusion: At a time when obesity continues to be a serious problem, in addition to other risk factors, the short duration of breastfeeding in Azerbaijani children has shown to give a serious impact to the process. The obtained correlation is similar to the WHO results and represents a serious risk of obesity for Azerbaijani children. In this study, it was not possible to completely objectively separate the percentage of breast milk during daily feeding in mixed-fed children. At the same time, the facts of breastfeeding and its duration are lower than global recommendations. It is below the target of "Global Nutrition Targets of at least 50% of breastfeeding in the first 6 months by 2025" approved by WHO Member States at the World Health Assembly.

Key words: obesity, BMI, breastfeeding