Abstract
BackgroundThe effect of joint health on the quality of life of middle-aged and older women is becoming more widely recognized with the aging of the world’s population. However, the association of long-term breastfeeding with joint pain and knee osteoarthritis has not been fully examined. The aim of this study was to determine the association of prior breastfeeding duration with current joint pain and knee osteoarthritis in middle-aged Korean women.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among 3454 women aged ≥50 years who underwent knee radiography and answered a questionnaire on breastfeeding and joint pain for the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2011). After adjusting for confounding sociodemographic, medical history, and obstetric and gynecologic variables, logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the prevalence of joint pain and knee osteoarthritis according to breastfeeding and its duration.ResultsAmong the 3454 participants, 298 had not breastfed and 1042, 815, and 1299 had breastfed for 1–24, 25–48, and ≥ 49 months, respectively. Of all participants, 1731 had joint pain and 739 were diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis after radiography.Using the non-breastfeeding group as a reference, the odds ratio (OR) for joint pain among women who breastfed ≥1 month was 1.49 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–2.21). As the breastfeeding duration increased, the OR of joint pain prevalence also increased (p for trend; p = 0.002). For knee osteoarthritis, the OR was 2.30 in the 25–48 months group (95% CI 1.09–4.86). The OR of knee osteoarthritis in the ≥49 months group was 2.17 (95% CI 1.01–4.64). Sensitivity analysis after selecting only participants aged ≥60 years showed that the prevalence of joint pain and knee osteoarthritis was more positively correlated with extended breastfeeding duration (joint pain, p for trend; p = 0.005) (knee osteoarthritis, p for trend; p = 0.012).ConclusionsLong-term feeding for more than 25 months was associated with an increased prevalence of joint pain and degenerative arthritis in Korean women aged ≥50 years.
Highlights
The effect of joint health on the quality of life of middle-aged and older women is becoming more widely recognized with the aging of the world’s population
Main results Among the 3454 women aged ≥50 years, 298 were included in the non-breastfeeding group, and 1042, 815, and 1299 were included in the 1–24, 25–48, and ≥ 49 months breastfeeding groups, respectively. Among those who answered the questionnaire, 1731 participants had joint pain and 739 had knee osteoarthritis diagnosed by radiography (Table 1)
The findings indicate that longer the lactation period, the higher the average number of children
Summary
The effect of joint health on the quality of life of middle-aged and older women is becoming more widely recognized with the aging of the world’s population. The association of long-term breastfeeding with joint pain and knee osteoarthritis has not been fully examined. The aim of this study was to determine the association of prior breastfeeding duration with current joint pain and knee osteoarthritis in middle-aged Korean women. In Korea, due to complex social obstacles such as educational opportunities for breastfeeding, social encouragement, and lack of cooperation, the exclusive breastfeeding rate, which was 52.6–40.6% in infants aged 1–4 months, significantly reduces to 9.4% in those aged 6 months. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is developing and promoting various policies to raise the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate of mothers to over 60% [4]. Approximately 38% of newborns are exclusively breastfed for 6 months [3]
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