Does Breastfeeding Reduce Risk for Breast Cancer?
- 1 January 2001
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing
- Vol. 26 (1), 42-45
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00005721-200101000-00011
Abstract
Breastfeeding has been promoted by some healthcare providers and childbirth educators as having a protective effect against breast cancer. In an effort to use the best evidence available for teaching patients, this article was written to summarize the literature about the protective effects of breastfeeding. The studies examined consistently demonstrated a mild to moderate protective effect from breast cancer; however, many variables including age, medication use, smoking, and family history affected the risk. While nurses and childbirth educators are in key positions to disseminate information to women concerning their choice in feeding their newborns and how that choice affects their health in general, it is essential that the information they impart is based on evidence.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- The independent associations of parity, age at first full term pregnancy, and duration of breastfeeding with the risk of breast cancerJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1989
- BREAST CANCER AND BREASTFEEDING: RESULTS FROM AN AUSTRALIAN CASE-CONTROL STUDYAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 1989