Background: It is believed that breastfeeding in infancy compared with formula feeding associated with lower mean blood pressure at different ages.
Objective: To compare arterial blood pressure measurements in healthy exclusively breastfed and exclusively formula fed infants.
Participators and methods: This study was cross-sectional study including 1000 infants. They were classified into two equal groups; Group (A): 500 healthy infants receiving exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and Group (B): 5oo healthy infants receiving only formula feeding for 6 months. This study was conducted on infants who had received their obligatory vaccination in Kafr El Batiekh hospital (Dumyat), from July 2018 to July 2020.
Results: In the present study, there were 215 (43.0%) child male in group (A) versus 233 (46.6%) in group (B) with non-statistical significant differences. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were nearly comparable between them at 2 months of age (SBP; 82.78±3.1 mmHg Vs 83.53±3.32 mmHg and DBP; 43.13±4.3 mmHg Vs 43.5±4.3 mmHg). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were nearly comparable between them at 4 months of age (SBP; 85.45±3.15 mmHg Vs 85.01±3.38 mmHg and DBP; 44.63±3.23 mmHg Vs 44.97±3.19mmHg). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were nearly comparable between them at 6 months of age (SBP; 86.81±3.018mmHg Vs 87.41±3.01mmHg and DBP; 45.73±3.07 mmHg Vs 47.29±3.28mmHg) with insignificant difference.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that type of feeding has no significant effect on arterial blood pressure in infants up to age of 6 months.
Recommendations: Further studies are required to compare arterial blood pressure in different socioeconomic status including a big number of participants.