The study reported on Medscape may be read for free in its entirety in the latest issue of the BMJ on line. www.bmj.com and the authors are Jacobsson et al from Malmö, Sweden. The editors at Medscape are merely repeating the wording used by the authors themselves who write in the body of the article: "Initiation of breast feeding during inpatient care after delivery (0.2, 0.1 to 0.7), and paternal occupation (manual v non-manual worker; 2.8, 1.3 to 5.7) were also associated with rheumatoid arthritis." It is not immediately apparent that the association with regard to initiation of BF is a NEGATIVE one, i.e. more initiation of BF, less arthritis. I had to really squint at the table of results to figure it out. They do say in the introduction that "We assessed perinatal characteristics in relation to the risk of adult rheumatoid arthritis and observed associations with several perinatal exposures, including high birth weight and low frequency of breast feeding." No prizes for clarity in language here, I'm afraid. The authors do not state any competing interests; one hopes this means there were none. Rachel Myr Kristiansand *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html