Association of breastfeeding and postmenopausal osteoporosis in Chinese women: a community-based retrospective study

Background Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) has long been a pervasive public health concern. With the aging Chinese population, the prevention, assessment and management of postmenopausal osteoporosis were particularly important. During the breastfeeding, a large amount of Calcium loss from maternal bone for infants’ growth. However, whether this loss is completely reversible remains controversial. As the relationship between breastfeeding and postmenopausal osteoporosis is different from society to society and is not clear from the literature, the purpose of this study was to determine whether breastfeeding was an independent factor for the development of PMOP based on Chinese postmenopausal population.