Association of economic status with breastfeeding rates in Northern Iran

Objective: To assess the breast-feeding condition based on economic status among primary school children and comparison between Turkman and non-Turkman ethnic groups in northern Iran in 2010. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective research study, carried out on 6882 primary school children (4157=non-Turkman and 2725=Turkman) from 112 school of urban and villages in the north of Iran. The schools and students were chosen by multistage sampling (cluster and random sampling). Breast- feeding was categorized based on World Health Organization classification. Results: Breast-feeding during the first 6 postpartum months and two postpartum years was found in 5.8 and 57.1% of children. Breast-feeding during the two postpartum years was significantly 12.5% more in Turkman ethnic group than non-Turkman ethnic group (P=0.001) but breast-feeding only for the first 6 postpartum months was 1.9% in Turkman ethnic group less than in non-Turkman ethnic group (P=0.002). There was a negative significant association between economic status and breast-feeding during the two postpartum years in both ethnic groups (P=0.001) and there was more breast feeding in the first 6 postpartum months in Turkman ethnic group. Conclusion: Breast-feeding rate in Turkman ethnic group is more common than non-Turkman ethnic group. There is an inverse relationship between economic status and breast-feeding duration with a considerable trend in Turkman ethnic group.