Gender: Female
Overweight women more likely to have polycystic ovary syndrome
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Overweight and obese Spanish women appear five times as likely as lean women to have polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that decreases fertility and contributes to other illnesses, according to an article in the October 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Polycystic ovary syndrome occurs when the ovaries malfunction and levels of the sex hormone androgen are unusually high. Symptoms may include irregular or no menstrual periods, acne and excess hair growth. In addition to its implications for reproductive health, polycystic ovary syndrome is also associated with sleep apnea, poor quality of life and an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to background information in the article.
Although more than half of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome are obese, the prevalence of the condition in overweight or obese women is unknown.
Pelvic Exams without Stirrups May Improve Women’s Health
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No matter how many pelvic examinations a woman has, it’s unlikely she’ll ever feel at ease about being asked to place her feet up in metal stirrups. Still, the stirrups position is thought to afford the best view of the vulvovaginal area and facilitate proper placement of exam instruments. According to the findings of a new study, however, there may be an acceptable, less vexing alternative, reports the October 2006 issue of Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
In a randomized trial of stirrups versus no stirrups for routine gynecological exams, researchers found that women who were allowed to keep their feet on the examining table felt significantly more comfortable than those whose feet were placed in stirrups. The study also demonstrated that it’s possible to perform pelvic exams and obtain Pap smears - important screening tests for cervical cancer - without using stirrups.
For some women, feelings of exposure, discomfort, or even pain during exams are potential barriers to getting gynecological care. Having the no-stirrups option might encourage more women see their doctors regularly for Pap smears.
Phone-based therapy helpful after miscarriage
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Mental health counseling given over the phone may ease some women’s depression symptoms after a miscarriage, a small pilot study suggests.
The therapy was offered to women with “subsyndromal” depression, which is less severe than major clinical depression but still causes significant symptoms—such as sleep disturbances, chronic lack of energy, appetite changes and feelings of hopelessness.
Past studies have shown that women who suffer a miscarriage are at risk not only of major depression, but of the considerably more common subsyndromal depression as well.
Women’s family choices have impact on later health
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Not having children, having five or more children, giving birth in adolescence, and spacing pregnancies less than 18 months apart could be detrimental to a woman’s health later in life, researchers said on Tuesday.
In addition, though women have a harder time conceiving after 40, those who do seem to have fewer medical problems as they age.
“We have shown that partnership and parenting histories are important influences on later life health and, in many cases, are as influential as the effects of a person’s socioeconomic status,” said Professor Emily Grundy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Childless women run the risk of earlier death
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Childless women run the risk of earlier death and poorer health in later life.
A new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) finds that not only childless women but also mothers of five or more children, teenage mothers and mothers who have children with less than an 18 month gap between births all have higher risks of death and poor health later in life.
Findings are based on a study of three separate datasets of women born from 1911 onwards in Great Britain and the USA. “We already know quite of lot about the impact of a person’s very early life or their socio-economic history on health and mortality in later life,” explains researcher Professor Emily Grundy of the Centre for Population Studies, School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London. “But, in this study we were able to analyse the long-term health implications of a person’s partnership and parenting experiences while taking into account education and other indicators of socio-economic status as well.”
Woman in vegetative state plays tennis in her head
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A woman in a vegetative state for five months appeared in brain scans to imagine playing tennis and to respond to commands, researchers reported on Thursday.
They said their study showed the woman was conscious despite her coma-like state, although several experts disagreed.
The researchers stressed that the study was unlikely to shed light on issues such as the controversial case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who spent 15 years in a persistent vegetative state and was allowed to die in March 2005 after a long court battle.
Religion tied to prescribing of morning-after pill
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Family doctors working in hospitals with religious affiliations prescribe emergency contraception, also known as the “morning-after pill,” less readily than those with no religious ties, a new survey demonstrates.
However, doctors in clinics with no religious associations were also not prescribing the medication appropriately, the researchers found.
“Really the right answer is ‘yes,’ whenever the woman asks for it,” Dr. Linda Prine of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health. “It wasn’t anywhere near that.”
Anti-herpes drug reduces need for Caesarean sections in infected women
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Giving an anti-viral drug to pregnant women who have a history of genital herpes significantly lowers the rate of Caesarean sections needed to protect the infant from becoming infected with the virus, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
The UT Southwestern study is the first large-scale confirmation that the drug valacyclovir hydrochloride (Valtrex) is effective in the last month of pregnancy, the researchers said. The study appears in this month’s issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“I think this will help immensely in giving doctors stronger evidence in using this treatment,” said Dr. Jeanne Sheffield, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study. “Besides reducing the number of herpes outbreaks at birth, we also dropped the numbers of women without symptoms who were shedding the virus into the birth canal.”
Docs seem to know when speedy C-section is needed
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Obstetricians in the U.S. appear to exercise good judgment in deciding when an emergency cesarean section is needed, and when the procedure should be started within 30 minutes of the decision to perform a C-section, new research suggests.
In 1989, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) set a guideline that a hospital offering obstetric care should have the capability of beginning an emergency cesarean section within 30 minutes.
“The important word is capability,” Dr. Steven Bloom, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas noted in comments to Reuters Health. “Having this potential should not be misconstrued to mean that it is required that all cesareans commence within 30 minutes,” he explained.
Early diagnosis key for femoral stress fractures
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Croatian researchers have come up with new guidelines for treating stress fractures of the femur, or thighbone, that prevent complications and difficulties that often occur with the condition, they say.
Stress fractures arise when bones are subjected to repetitive loading but the forces are not strong enough to causes an immediate break. Femoral stress fractures are rare, occurring chiefly in athletes and military recruits, Dr. A. Ivkovic and colleagues from the University of Zagreb Medical School write in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
“Nevertheless, they do pose a great challenge for both diagnosis and treatment,” Ivkovic and his team write. Such fractures have few symptoms, so diagnosis is frequently delayed, and complications can occur. These may include delays in healing and recurrence of symptoms, they explain.
Environment Plays Big Role in Women Starting to Smoke
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Researchers have long known that reasons for smoking include social pressure and other environmental factors, as well as genetic factors based on results of previous twin studies. Now a more comprehensive study of twins by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) has provided a better understanding of these complex influences. They found that women are far more likely than men to start smoking because of environmental factors, whereas genetic factors appear to play a larger role in influencing men to start smoking.
However, the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, found no differences between the sexes in factors related to continued smoking, which appeared to be strongly influenced by genetics.
The study, entitled “Gender Differences In Determinants of Smoking Initiation and Persistence in California Twins,” looked at factors that influenced twins to start smoking and to continue smoking.
Osteoporosis drug may also normalize heart rate
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Treatment with raloxifene appears to reduce heart rate variability in elderly women with osteoporosis, Turkish researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
There is some evidence that raloxifene, sold under the trade name Evista, may have a protective effect on women with cardiovascular disease or who have a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but the effects are still unclear, Dr. Mert Gol and colleagues at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Izmir, note.
The researchers therefore studied 43 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The women were randomly assigned to raloxifene at 60 mg daily or another drug that prevents or slows down osteoporosis—alendronate (trade name Fosamax) at 10 mg daily.
Work, motherhood a healthy combo for women: study
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Juggling a career along with being a wife or partner and parent may help to keep women healthy, scientists said on Monday.
After analyzing data from a study that tracked the health of Britons born in 1946, they found that women who had multiple roles were less likely than homemakers, single mothers or childless females to report poor health or to be obese in middle age.
“Women who occupied multiple roles over the long term reported relatively good health at age 54,” said Dr Anne McMunn, of University College London.
Nonhormonal Therapies May Offer Relief From Hot Flashes, With Possible Adverse Effects
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A meta-analysis of previously published studies examining the use of nonhormonal therapies for treating menopausal hot flashes finds that some therapies are effective, but less so than estrogen, and have possible adverse effects that may restrict their use, according to an article in the May 3 issue of JAMA.
Hot flashes are the most common symptom related to menopausal transition. They are experienced by more than 50 percent of menopausal women, can persist for several years after menopause, and for some women can interfere with activities or sleep to such a degree that treatment is requested, according to background information in the article. Estrogen has been used as a hormone supplement for nearly 60 years to treat menopausal symptoms. However, recent studies reporting adverse effects such as cardiovascular events and breast cancer have raised important concerns about its use and have led to increased interest in other therapies for improving menopausal symptoms. Evidence of the efficacy and adverse effects of nonhormonal therapies is generally lacking or unclear.
Heidi D. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., of the Oregon Health and Science University and Providence Health System, Portland, Ore., and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to compare the efficacy and adverse effects of nonhormonal therapies for menopausal hot flashes.
Calcium can reduce fracture risk in elderly women
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Calcium supplementation is an effective public health intervention for preventing fractures in elderly women, but it is only effective if women are compliant. Unfortunately, most women do not comply with treatment over the long-term.
Increased dietary calcium intake has been proposed as a population-based public health intervention to prevent fractures due to the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, note researchers in a report in Archives of Internal Medicine.
In a study lasting five years, Dr. Richard L. Prince, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues examined whether calcium supplementation decreases fracture risk in elderly women.
