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The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women
OBJECTIVES: Increases in breast size with age are common but have not been widely examined as a factor that could affect the health and psychological wellbeing of mature-aged women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between breast size and aspects of health and psychological...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
SAGE Publications
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7235664/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32419664 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745506520918335 |
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author | Spencer, Linda Fary, Robyn McKenna, Leanda Jacques, Angela Lalor, Jennifer Briffa, Kathy |
author_facet | Spencer, Linda Fary, Robyn McKenna, Leanda Jacques, Angela Lalor, Jennifer Briffa, Kathy |
author_sort | Spencer, Linda |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVES: Increases in breast size with age are common but have not been widely examined as a factor that could affect the health and psychological wellbeing of mature-aged women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of mature-aged women (⩾40 years). Breast size (breast size score) was determined from self-reported bra size and was examined against health-related quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 and BREAST-Q), body satisfaction (numerical rating scale), breast satisfaction (BREAST-Q), physical activity levels (Human Activity Profile), the presence of upper back pain and breast and bra fit perceptions. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-nine women (40–85 years) with bra band sizes ranging from 8 to 26 and bra cup sizes from A to HH participated. The mean (standard deviation) breast size score of 7.7 (2.7) was equivalent to a bra size of 14DD. Increasing breast size was associated with significantly lower breast-related physical wellbeing (p < 0.001, R(2) = 0.043) and lower ratings of body (p = 0.002, R(2) = 0.024) and breast satisfaction (p < 0.001, R(2) = 0.065). Women with larger breasts were more likely to be embarrassed by their breasts (odds ratio: 1.49, 95% confidence interval: 1.31 to 1.70); more likely to desire a change in their breasts (odds ratio: 1.55, 95% confidence interval: 1.37 to 1.75) and less likely to be satisfied with their bra fit (odds ratio: 0.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.76 to 0.92). Breast size in addition to age contributed to explaining upper back pain. For each one-size increase in breast size score, women were 13% more likely to report the presence of upper back pain. CONCLUSION: Larger breast sizes have a small but significant negative relationship with breast-related physical wellbeing, body and breast satisfaction. Larger breasts are associated with a greater likelihood of upper back pain. Clinicians considering ways to improve the health and psychological wellbeing of mature-aged women should be aware of these relationships. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7235664 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | SAGE Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-72356642020-06-09 The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women Spencer, Linda Fary, Robyn McKenna, Leanda Jacques, Angela Lalor, Jennifer Briffa, Kathy Womens Health (Lond) Primary OBJECTIVES: Increases in breast size with age are common but have not been widely examined as a factor that could affect the health and psychological wellbeing of mature-aged women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of mature-aged women (⩾40 years). Breast size (breast size score) was determined from self-reported bra size and was examined against health-related quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 and BREAST-Q), body satisfaction (numerical rating scale), breast satisfaction (BREAST-Q), physical activity levels (Human Activity Profile), the presence of upper back pain and breast and bra fit perceptions. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-nine women (40–85 years) with bra band sizes ranging from 8 to 26 and bra cup sizes from A to HH participated. The mean (standard deviation) breast size score of 7.7 (2.7) was equivalent to a bra size of 14DD. Increasing breast size was associated with significantly lower breast-related physical wellbeing (p < 0.001, R(2) = 0.043) and lower ratings of body (p = 0.002, R(2) = 0.024) and breast satisfaction (p < 0.001, R(2) = 0.065). Women with larger breasts were more likely to be embarrassed by their breasts (odds ratio: 1.49, 95% confidence interval: 1.31 to 1.70); more likely to desire a change in their breasts (odds ratio: 1.55, 95% confidence interval: 1.37 to 1.75) and less likely to be satisfied with their bra fit (odds ratio: 0.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.76 to 0.92). Breast size in addition to age contributed to explaining upper back pain. For each one-size increase in breast size score, women were 13% more likely to report the presence of upper back pain. CONCLUSION: Larger breast sizes have a small but significant negative relationship with breast-related physical wellbeing, body and breast satisfaction. Larger breasts are associated with a greater likelihood of upper back pain. Clinicians considering ways to improve the health and psychological wellbeing of mature-aged women should be aware of these relationships. SAGE Publications 2020-05-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7235664/ /pubmed/32419664 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745506520918335 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
spellingShingle | Primary Spencer, Linda Fary, Robyn McKenna, Leanda Jacques, Angela Lalor, Jennifer Briffa, Kathy The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title | The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title_full | The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title_fullStr | The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title_full_unstemmed | The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title_short | The relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
title_sort | relationship between breast size and aspects of health and psychological wellbeing in mature-aged women |
topic | Primary |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7235664/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32419664 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745506520918335 |
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