119
Views
1
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Breastfeeding and Maternal Age-Related Cataract in the U.S. Population

&
Pages 244-249 | Received 16 Jan 2020, Accepted 25 Aug 2020, Published online: 04 Sep 2020
 

ABSTRACT

Purpose

An estimated 38 million and 50 million individuals will have cataract in the U.S. alone by 2030 and 2050, respectively. Breastfeeding is known to improve a number of health outcomes in both breastfed children and breastfeeding mothers. However, little is known about the relationship between breastfeeding and cataract, the leading cause of blindness worldwide, in breastfeeding mothers. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal cataract extraction history in a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population.

Methods

A 10-year multistage, probability-sampling survey data was used to identify parous women aged ≥50 years who provided breastfeeding history and cataract extraction history (n = 4897). Breastfeeding history was considered positive if a participant reported breastfeeding at least one child for ≥1 month. The main outcome was cataract extraction history. Estimates are presented in odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

Results

Approximately half of the studied women breastfed at least one child ≥1 month, and about 18% reported cataract extraction history. Participants with a positive breastfeeding history were less likely to have a positive cataract extraction history in both age-adjusted (OR = 0.814, 95%CI = 0.670–0.989) and multivariable logistic regression (OR = 0.794, 95%CI = 0.639–0.988). Higher number of breastfed children was also associated with a lower risk of cataract extraction history (OR = 0.934, 95%CI = 0.883–0.988).

Conclusions

The findings suggest that breastfeeding may be associated with a decrease in the likelihood of age-related cataract extraction in parous women from the U.S. population.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 740.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.