RESEARCH - Breast-feeding, but not oral contraceptives, is associated with a reduced risk of RA

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Ann Rheum Dis. 2008 May 14.

Breast-feeding, but not oral contraceptives, is associated with a

reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

Pikwer M, Bergström U, Nilsson JA, sson L, Berglund G, Turesson C.

Malmö University Hospital, Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether

breast-feeding or the use of oral contraceptives (OC) could affect the

future risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a community-based

prospective cohort. METHODS: A community based health survey (18 326

women) was linked to regional and national registers, and incident

cases of RA were identified. All females with RA diagnosis after

inclusion in the health survey (n = 136) and four female controls for

every case, who were alive and free from RA when the index person was

diagnosed with RA, were included in a case-control study. Data on life

style factors at baseline were derived from a self-administered

questionnaire. Potential predictors were examined in logistic

regression models. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-six women with

incident RA were compared to 544 age matched controls. Longer history

of breast-feeding was associated with a reduced risk of RA (OR: 0.46;

95% CI 0.24-0.91 for women with >/= 13 months of breast-feeding, and

OR 0.74; 95 % CI 0.45-1.20 for those with 1-12 months, compared to

those who never breast-fed). The protective effect of longer

breast-feeding remained significant when adjusting for smoking and

level of education in multivariate models, and point estimates were

protective also when restricting the analyses to parous women. Parity

or OC use did not have any significant effect on the risk of RA.

CONCLUSION: In this study, long-term breast-feeding, but not use of

OC, was associated with a significant reduction of the risk of RA.

PMID: 18477739

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18477739

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Not an MD