Breast Cancer Risk Reduction by Parity and Breastfeeding, Islamic Perspective; A Case Control Study

Introduction: Verses in Holy Quran; 233 surat Al-Baghare , 15 Al-Ahghaf , 14 Loghman and 6 Al-Talagh, breastfeeding, gravidity, and parity recommended to the parents and expected their children to be accountable to the parents; particularly to mothers due to tolerate of pregnancy and breastfeeding duration.

Methods: The case-control study included 376 patients diagnosed between 2001-2006 and control group were 425 people. Two groups matched by demographic variants and socioeconomic status. The data inserted into SPSS -16. Logistic regression models used to examine the relations of the breast cancer risk with reproductive factors. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals computed as measures of association from the logistic models. All p-values reported two –sided.

Results: The Cases were more likely to be non pregnant. The parous women had a lower risk than nulliparous.The number of children reduced the risk of breast cancer; however it was significant only for 1-3 parities. The breastfeeding results showed it was significantly protective against breast cancer comparison with never breastfeeding. The breastfeeding trend was significantly protective against breast cancer.

Discussion: The parity and breastfeeding were effective in reduction of breast cancer risk. The results confirmed the recommendations of the Holly Quran and the messengers of Allah that parity and breastfeeding, (Eighteen to twenty four months for a child) have the best protective effect against breast cancer.