Toward a Clarification of the Concept of Mastitis as Used in Empirical Studies of Breast Inflammation During Lactation
The objective of this study is to clarify use of the term mastitis in empirical studies of lactational mastitis. Eighteen articles published between 1998 and 2008 were critically analyzed, and a concept clarification of the term mastitis was carried out. Four articles suggested that mastitis was an infection, 4 made no mention of the etiology of symptoms, and 10 articles described mastitis as an i
