Corrigendum to “Re-thinking benign inflammation of the lactating breast: Classification,prevention,and management”

Douglas P. Re-thinking benign inflammation of the lactating breast: Classification, prevention, and management. Women’s Health. 2022; 18. doi:10.1177/17455057221091349

Appendix 1 in this article contains errors in its representation of Witt et al.¹ and Anderson et al.² studies, in a discussion about the efficacy of Therapeutic Breast Massage in Lactation.

The Witt et al.¹ study is not a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), but a nested case control study. It is referred to as a quasi-experimental study in the Anderson et al.² systematic review, not as an RCT. Anderson et al.² did not state that that “results of Witt et al.’s RCT are unreliable, because of an unusually high rate of drop-out from the intervention group.” The numbers given in the following sentence are incorrect, and wrongly attributed to Anderson et al.²: “At 2 days post-intervention, 25 out or 40 in the TBM group did not follow up, and at 12 weeks, 27 of 40 did not follow up. In contrast, the control group had a 90% retention rate.”

Witt et al.¹ shows that 38 women of the intervention group of 42 completed the 2-day survey. Ninety-eight percent followed up at 12 weeks. For the nested case control of mothers with engorgement, there was 87% (13/15) follow-up at 2 days and 100% (15/15) follow-up at 12 weeks. The control group had a follow-up of 77% (56/73) at 2 days and 88% (64/73) at 12 weeks. Overall, Witt et al.¹ report excellent follow-up rates for patients receiving TBML.

References

1. Witt AM, Bolman M, Kredit S, et al. Therapeutic breast massage in lactation for the management of engorgement, plugged ducts, and mastitis. J Hum Lact 2016; 32(1): 123–131.

2. Anderson L, Kynoch K, Kildea S, et al. Effectiveness of breast massage for the treatment of women with breastfeeding problems: a systematic review. JBI Database Syst Rev Implement Rep. 2019; 17(8): 1668–1694.