The Impact of Breastfeeding on Breast Cancer Among Women in Sulaimani City

Abstract

Breastfeeding can reduce the risk for breast cancer. This protective effect seems greater for women who had extended periods of breastfeeding during their lifetime. To find out the impact of breastfeeding with breast cancer among women, a Retrospective case-control study was carried out, from July 2016 to October 2016. Purposive 100 breast cancer cases were compared to 100 women, no family history with breast cancer and marital status, matched hospital-based controls from 20 to 60 years of age married women attending Hiwa Hospital and Medical Emergency Hospital in Sulaimani City. A questionnaire was constructed by the researcher to elicit the detailed information related to study objectives. All subjects were completed as in-person interview technique. Analyzing and interpreting data using the application of descriptive statistical analysis, inferential chi-square test and a multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis was employed. The results have revealed that there was an association between breast cancer and, level of education, residence area, BMI, abortion, hormonal contraception , long duration contraception use above 6 years , late age at menopause (≥55 year) , benign breast disease , infertility and older age at first pregnancy (≥30 year). The study concludes that breastfeeding was associated significantly with breast cancer in a result of chi square test generally for breastfeeding (χ2 =13.31, p= 0.00) and particularly (χ2 =24.79, p= 0.00) for exclusive breastfeeding. Breastfeeding did have an impact on breast cancer, according to the model summary table of regression analysis. The R Square to the present study was 0.53%. This indicates that 53.0% of the variance of breast cancer has been determined in breast feeding.