Family Planning Perspectives articles from September 2001

Family Planning Perspectives archives from September 2001

IN THIS ISSUE.
September 1, 2001... You are 16 years old and find yourself pregnant: What do you decide to do? a). Get an abortion? b). Carry the pregnancy to term, and keep the baby? c). Carry the pregnancy to term, and give the baby up for adoption? ...

How to Eat for Two.(nutrition for pregnant women)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Women who do not follow the Institute of Medicine's recommendation to eat three meals and at least two snacks a day during pregnancy have an increased risk of delivering preterm, according to a study of women attending two prenatal clinics in...

Dating Violence Leaves Many Scars.
September 1, 2001... Teenage women who have been physically abused by a boyfriend are significantly more likely than those who have not experienced abuse to engage in risky sexual activity and to have unhealthy attitudes related to sexual behavior.[1] Among 522...

Attention Must Be Paid.(sexual health policy)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Citing the "serious public health challenge" posed by such problems as high levels of sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and sexual violence, Surgeon General David Satcher has called for a nationwide, "mature and thoughtful...

One Word for Condom Users: Plastic.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... In a randomized crossover trial comparing a latex condom with a new plastic one (eZ [multiplied by] on), both types were comparable in terms of safety and slippage, but the plastic condom had a higher breakage rate (6%, compared with 1% for the...

Folic Acid: Who Knows?(public relations about health benefits of folic acid)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Women are increasingly likely to know that taking folic acid can help prevent some birth defects, but not all groups are equally likely to have this knowledge.[1] Among women surveyed in 13 states 2-6 months after giving birth, 73% in 1998 had...

Teenagers, Health Stuff and the Net.(Internet)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Half of 10th graders in a suburban New York school have turned to the Internet to learn about a wide variety of health topics, and these young people value the Internet as a source of information about sexual and reproductive health.[1] In all,...

Does Breast Milk Cause Asthma?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... With asthma becoming increasingly common in Japan, researchers there have revisited the decades-old question of whether its occurrence is related to breastfeeding, and have concluded that it might be.[1] In a comparison of 2,315 children aged...

Sterilization May Prevent Cancer.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Women with a genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer may avoid the disease by having a tubal ligation, according to findings from a study conducted in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.[1] The study included 232 women with...

Tell It to the Marines.(sex education for male Marines)(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Active-duty, male Marines serving in the Western Pacific who participated in a cognitive-behavioral sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention program engaged in less risky behavior during liberty visits than did a comparable group who did...

The Effect of Partners' Characteristics on Teenage Pregnancy and Its Resolution.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Teenage pregnancy and childbearing have received widespread attention in recent years. Although the birthrate among women aged 15-19 fell during the period 1991-1998, after rising between 1986 and 1991, the fraction of such births that were to...

Timing of Alcohol and Other Drug Use And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Unmarried Adolescents and Young Adults.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Of the estimated 12 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) diagnosed among Americans each year, three million involve people younger than age 20, and another four million occur among 20-25-year-olds.[1] Among adolescents, key...

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Sexual Risk Behaviors in Women: A Retrospective Cohort Study.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... The adverse consequences of participating in high-risk sexual behaviors are disproportionately higher in women than in men. This disparity is influenced by a number of factors. Biologically, women are more susceptible to sexually transmitted...

Choice of and Satisfaction with Methods of Medical And Surgical Abortion Among U.S. Clinic Patients.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... In the United States, women seeking to terminate an early pregnancy now have a choice between medical and surgical abortion procedures. The two major drugs currently being used to induce abortion are mifepristone and methotrexate (both used in...

Childbearing in Cohabiting Unions: Racial and Ethnic Differences.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... In the past few generations, cohabitation, in which an unmarried couple involved in a relationship lives together, has become increasingly common in the United States. Almost half of American young adults report ever having cohabited,[1] and...

The Influence of Significant Others on Australian Teenagers' Decisions About Pregnancy Resolution.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... In Australia, there has been a distinct shift in how teenagers choose to resolve their pregnancies--from a dichotomy of marriage and motherhood or adoption to one of motherhood or abortion. From World War II to the 1960s, a speedy marriage,...

The NIH Condom Report: The Glass is 90% Full.(National Institutes of Health)
September 1, 2001... On July 20, 2001, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its long-awaited report on condom effectiveness.[1] This report summarized a workshop held more than 13 months previously, in June 2000, to evaluate the scientific evidence on...

The IUD and Recovery Of Fertility.(intrauterine device)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... A digest that appeared recently in Family Planning Perspectives [A first pregnancy may be difficult to achieve after long-term use of an IUD, 2001, 33(4):181-182] summarizes at length and with accuracy a report by Helen Doll and coauthors that...

Young People in the United States Are Often Misinformed About the Proper Use of Condoms.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... American adolescents commonly have misconceptions about proper condom use, according to a study of more than 15,000 U.S. teenagers.[1] Between 15% and 52% of young people respond incorrectly when questioned on whether space should be left at...

Multiple Factors, Including Genetic and Environmental Components, Influence When Menopause Begins.
September 1, 2001... Half of women reach natural menopause (i.e., not resulting from surgery) by 51.4 years of age, according to a large, multi-center study.[1] Women who smoke, who have not graduated from college, who are formerly married, who are unemployed and...

Thai Men Who Patronize Prostitutes Place Their Wives at Risk of HPV-Associated Cervical Cancer.
September 1, 2001... For Thai women, infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 or 18 is the most important factor in the progression of precancerous cervical lesions to invasive cancer; the risk of cancers associated with these viral types rises with...

Exposure to Multiple Risk Factors Linked to Delivery Of Underweight Infants.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Women commonly engage in or are exposed to multiple risk factors during pregnancy, and these risk factors have a cumulative, perhaps synergistic effect on their risk of delivering an infant who is small for gestational age.[1] According to an...

Patch Is as Effective as Pill; Weekly Dosing Schedule May Improve Compliance.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Women who wear an adhesive patch that delivers a combination hormonal contraceptive through the skin are no more likely to become pregnant than women who use a combination oral contraceptive, according to a study of more than 1,400 women at 45...

Douching Raises Infection Risk, but Only for Women Without Bacterial Vaginosis.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Women with symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) who have douched recently are nearly twice as likely as those who have not practiced douching to have an upper genital tract disease, according to findings from a large, multisite...

Risk of HIV Transmission Is Raised by High Viral Load, Presence of Genital Ulcers.
September 1, 2001... On average, each time a monogamous, heterosexual couple in which one partner is HIV-positive has intercourse, the probability that the virus will be transmitted to the uninfected partner is 0.11%, according to an analysis of data from rural...