Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from March 2008

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from March 2008

The measure of the man.(FYI)(condoms)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... When it comes to condoms, one size does not fit all, and poor fit may mean problems with use. (1) In a sample of 178 men surveyed at a black gay pride event in Atlanta, 61% of respondents said that condoms generally fit correctly, 21% said that...

No cut might make the cut.(FYI)(Adiana sterilization system)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... An independent advisory panel has recommended that the Food and Drug Administration approve a device for performing female sterilization without making an incision, provided that the manufacturer conduct a number of postmarketing studies. (1)...

Life after preeclampsia.(FYI)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Women who have had preeclampsia are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. (1) In a review encompassing studies published between 1960 and 2006, researchers identified 25 that were suitable for inclusion in a...

Men behaving badly.(FYI)(men and women smoking and drinking habits during and after women's pregnancy)(Report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Missouri men who lived with a pregnant partner reported in a telephone survey that their partner's smoking and drinking habits changed during pregnancy, but their own did not. (1) Forty-one percent of the 96 respondents said that their partner...

Take the test to the people.(FYI)(HIV testing)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Rapid HIV testing conducted in community settings provides opportunities to identify infected individuals who would otherwise not know that they are HIV-positive and to point them toward treatment services, according to results of a two-year...

More on the link between cervical cancer and the pill.(FYI)(Report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Analyses using pooled data from 24 studies conducted around the world have confirmed that pill users have an increased risk of developing cervical cancer but that the risk differential declines, and eventually disappears, when women stop using...

Avoidance [not equal to] prevention.(FYI)(sexually transmitted diseases)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... "Selective avoidance" of sex does not prevent the spread of STDs among teenagers, according to findings from a clinic-based sample of sexually active black adolescent women. (1) One-third of the sample said that they had recently refrained from...

Does abortion predict poor birth outcomes later?(FYI)(Report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Women who have had an abortion, whether spontaneous or induced, may have an elevated risk of subsequent adverse birth outcomes, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Collaborative Perinatal Project. (1) The data included 45,617 live,...

IUDs for teenagers?(FYI)(intrauterine devices)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Emphasizing the "importance of appropriate contraception" for teenagers, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Adolescent Health Care has come out strongly in favor of providing IUDs to adolescents. (1) In an...

Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005.(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures undergone by women aged 15-44 in the United States, (1) partly because of the high level of unintended pregnancy. About half of the 6.4 million pregnancies that occurred in 2000 (including...

Older sexual partners during adolescence: links to reproductive health outcomes in young adulthood.(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Having sex at a young age with an older partner places adolescents at risk for several negative reproductive health outcomes. Compared with teenagers who first have sex with a partner who is close to their age, those who initiate sex with older...

Sexual behavior of single adult American women.(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... In contrast to the intense public discussion and concern regarding adolescents' sexual behavior and reproductive health needs, limited attention has been given to the sexual behavior of single adult women. However, demographic shifts in the...

The impact of programs to increase contraceptive use among adult women: a review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies.(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... The rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States is among the highest in the industrialized world. (1) About half of all pregnancies, or nearly three million pregnancies each year, are unintended. These unintended pregnancies lead to 1.3...

Effects of a school-based, theory-driven HIV and pregnancy prevention curriculum.(Report)
March 1, 2008... Rates of pregnancy and STDs continue to be high among teenagers in the United States, and the incidence of HIV is higher among older teenagers and young adults than among older adults. (1) As a result of these stark social realities, a...

Pill use is associated with reductions in overall risk of cancer and in risk of main gynecologic cancers.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Ever-use of the pill had no adverse effect on the overall risk of cancer in the large cohort of British women participating in the Royal College of General Practitioners' oral contraception study. Rather, analyses of data reflecting as much as...

Methamphetamine use is linked to risky behavior in heterosexual encounters.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Methamphetamine use before or during a sexual encounter, which has a well-established association with risky behavior among men who have sex with men, may also be a predictor of risky behavior in heterosexual encounters. In a study conducted...

Provider advice to women may vary by women's social class and ethnicity.(DIGESTS)(health care professionals)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Low-income black and Latina women surveyed in the Los Angeles area were more likely than middle-class whites to say that during a current or recent pregnancy, a health care professional had advised them to limit their childbearing. (1) In a...

Breast-feeding: support interventions associated with increased practice.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... In a randomized controlled study conducted in Singapore, women who received prenatal education and those who received postnatal support were significantly more likely than those who received only routine obstetric care to be breast-feeding...

Despite differences in legal status, abortion occurs at similar rates in developing and developed countries.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... An estimated 42 million abortions occurred throughout the world in 2003, and although the vast majority were in developing countries, where abortion laws generally are restrictive and unsafe procedures common, overall abortion rates were...

The more obese a woman is, the greater her risk of having a stillbirth.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Obese women are more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have a stillbirth, and the risk appears to rise with the degree of a woman's obesity. (1) Overall, Missouri women who gave birth between 1978 and 1997 were about 40% more...

Circumstances of women's first birth may be linked to their health during middle age.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... Once women reach late middle age, their mortality and disease risks may be related to their early childbearing history, according to analyses of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which conducts periodic surveys to track...

Participants in HIV vaccine trials may experience negative social effects.(DIGESTS)(Clinical report)
March 1, 2008... One in five volunteers in a multicenter HIV vaccine efficacy trial reported that their participation had at least one negative social impact in a three-year period. (1) The overwhelming majority of negative experiences involved difficulties in...

The importance of pleasure.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... It was with great pleasure that I read "The Pleasure Deficit: Revisiting the 'Sexuality Connection' in Reproductive Health," by Jenny A. Higgins and Jennifer S. Hirsch [2007, 39(4):240-247]. It has been some time since I have seen anything in...