Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34754453›Full record

ArticleEvolution, medicine, and public health2021

Women who breastfeed exhibit cognitive benefits after age 50.

Molly Fox, Prabha Siddarth, Hanadi Ajam Oughli, Sarah A Nguyen, Michaela M Milillo, Yesenia Aguilar, Linda Ercoli, Helen Lavretsky

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Molly FoxDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 341 Haines Hall, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9219-8971
Prabha SiddarthDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Hanadi Ajam OughliDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Sarah A NguyenDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Michaela M MililloDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Yesenia AguilarDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Linda ErcoliDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
Helen LavretskyDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, USA.
University of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

Brain connectivity and response to Tai Chi in geriatric depressionR01AT008383 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI LAVRETSKY, HELEN · 2015 to 2019
$4.1M
Mentoring and Research in Translational Science of Integrative MedicineK24AT009198 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Helen Lavretsky · 2016 to 2026
$1.4M
Effects of Acculturation on Gestational Biology in Mexican-American Pregnant WomenK01DK105110 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FOX, MOLLY MAURER · 2015 to 2021
$782k
Social adversity, gestational stress physiology, and birth outcomes in Hispanic AmericansR03DK125524 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FOX, MOLLY MAURER · 2020 to 2021
$234k
NCCIH NIH HHS K24 AT009198NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT008383NIDDK NIH HHS K01 DK105110NIDDK NIH HHS R03 DK125524
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesWomen who breastfeed may experience long-term benefits for their health in addition to the more widely appreciated effects on the breastfed child. Breastfeeding may induce long-term effects on biopsychosocial systems implicated in brain health. Also, due to diminished breastfeeding in the postindustrial era, it is important to understand the lifespan implications of breastfeeding for surmising maternal phenotypes in our species' collective past. Here, we assess how women's breastfeeding history relates to postmenopausal cognitive performance. METHODOLOGY: A convenience sample of Southern California women age 50+ was recruited via two clinical trials, completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and answered a questionnaire about reproductive life history. General linear models examined whether cognitive domain scores were associated with breastfeeding in depressed and non-depressed women, controlling for age, education and ethnicity.

resultsWomen who breastfed exhibited superior performance in the domains of Learning, Delayed Recall, Executive Functioning and Processing Speed compared to women who did not breastfeed ( CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: We add to the growing list of lifespan health correlates of breastfeeding for women's health, such as the lower risk of type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. We surmise that women's postmenopausal cognitive competence may have been greater in past environments in which breastfeeding was more prevalent, bolstering the possibility that postmenopausal longevity may have been adaptive across human evolutionary history. LAY SUMMARY: Breastfeeding may affect women's cognitive performance. Breastfeeding's biological effects and psychosocial effects, such as improved stress regulation, could exert long-term benefits for the mother's brain. We found that women who breastfed performed better on a series of cognitive tests in later life compared to women who did not breastfeed.

Indexed as

Alzheimer’s risk factorsbreastfeedingcognitive healthdementialactationreproductive life-history

Identifiers

PMID34754453
PMCPMC8573189
OpenAlexW3203897858

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.