Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from May 2002

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from May 2002

House committee just say yes to abstinence-only education. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By a vote of 32-22, a House committee in April rejected a measure that would have permitted states receiving federal funds for abstinence-only education to use that money for programs that include discussion of contraceptive methods. (1) While...

Pregnant? Me? nein! (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Of nearly 30,000 women who gave birth in 1995-1996 in the Berlin metropolitan area, 62-or approximately one in 475-did not know until after 20 weeks' gestation that they were pregnant. (1) Twenty-five pregnancies were not identified until the...

On the fence is not a good place to be. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... One-fifth of a sample of low-income black teenagers in Alabama were ambivalent about becoming pregnant, and these young women engaged in less protective behavior than their peers who wished to avoid conceiving. (1) Women who were ambivalent...

Once burned ... (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... ONCE BURNED... Swedish women who viewed their first birth as a generally bad experience had fewer subsequent births and waited longer before having their second child than those with more positive feelings about their first birth. (1) In all,...

Doctors receive warning about mifepristone. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The maker of mifepristone has sent a letter to doctors, informing them that six women have become seriously ill, and two have died, after undergoing medical abortion using the drug in combination with misoprostol. (1) Three women suffered...

The how-many-Martini-pregnancy? (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... After increasing in the early 1990s, the proportion of pregnant women who reported in a nationwide survey that they consumed any alcohol dropped from 16% to 13% between 1995 and 1999. (1) By contrast, the proportion of nonpregnant women of...

The Pap gap. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Only three in five U.S. women of reproductive age have had a Pap test within the past year, and an analysis of data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth reveals that not all women are equally likely to have been tested. (1) When...

Condom machine haute couture. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Five Paris subway stations are now equipped with machines selling female condoms, and Paris being Paris, the machines are distinguished by a certain je ne sais quoi: There are pink ones for women and blue ones for men. (1) The machines were...

A downside to boys' self-esteem. (FYI).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Youngsters' level of self-esteem is an important predictor of sexual initiation, but it has opposite effects among males and females. (1) To study how self-esteem influences early sexual activity, researchers collected data from a sample of...

Friendships and early relationships: links to sexual initiation among American adolescents born to young mothers. (Articles).
May 1, 2002... Despite recent decreases in adolescent pregnancy rates and birthrates in the United States, (1) the overwhelming majority of American youth engage in sexual intercourse as teenagers, and fewer than half remain sexually inexperienced by age 18....

Employment and the sexual and reproductive behavior of female adolescents.(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Although adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States have declined since the early 1990s, they remain among the highest in the developed world. (1) Such high pregnancy rates--and their accompanying high birthrates--are a concern, even...

Contraceptive method switching in the United States.(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Significant proportions of U.S. women switch contraceptive methods. Indeed, when all method-related reasons for stopping use are considered, two-year discontinuation rates are as high as 90% for some methods; rates are particularly high among...

20 years ago in Perspectives.(illegal abortion statistics)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In the May/June 1982 issue of Perspectives, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control reported that 17 U.S. women had died after having illegal abortions between 1975 and 1979. About half of these women had reduced their own abortion,...

Predictors of contraceptive discontinuation in a sexually transmitted disease clinic population. (Research Note).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... The side effects of contraceptives and the resulting discontinuation of use account for a large proportion of unplanned pregnancies in the United States. (1) For example, discontinuation of pill use due to its side effects is responsible for an...

Mifepristone for early medical abortion: experiences in France, Great Britain and Sweden. (Special Report).
May 1, 2002... In September 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone (also known by the trade name Mifeprex or its original French name, RU-486) for use along with a prostaglandin for ending pregnancies up to 49 days from the onset...

How can pharmacies improve access to emergency contraception? (Viewpoint).
May 1, 2002... Over the past 10 years, leaders of the medical community have played an important--albeit sometimes lonely--role in efforts to increase access to hormonal contraception by arguing for its deregulation. In the mid-1990s, evidence in favor of...

Among sexually experienced male adolescents, those with partners of both sexes exhibit riskiest behavior. (Digests).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Male adolescents who have sexual contact with both males and females are more likely to report AIDS-related risk factors and a history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) than are males who have sexual contact only with females. Compared with...

Use of any combined pill type confers an elevated risk of a first heart attack. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The use of any oral contraceptive significantly raises the likelihood of a first myocardial infarction, according to a nationwide study from the Netherlands. (1) The results of the study also suggest, although inconclusively, that women who use...

Disadvantages from very low birth weight last into young adulthood. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Very-low-birth-weight individuals (those weighing less than 1,500 g at birth) experience educational and intelligence deficits that last into young adulthood, according to data from a longitudinal study in Ohio. (1) For example, they have...

Teenagers report a mix of ethnicities and ages among their partners. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... American adolescents commonly have a sexual partner from a different age-group or ethnic group, an analysis of national data on adolescent health reveals. (1) Nearly one-half of teenage relationships are between partners who are two or more...

Female condom use rises if women receive good instruction and training. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Women who receive instruction in female condom use, along with opportunities to practice method-related skills on a pelvic model, have an increased likelihood of using the method, of using it correctly and of viewing it in a favorable light....

Breast cancer risk tied to long-term hormone use after menopause. (Digests).
May 1, 2002... The use of hormone replacement therapy following menopause appears to increase women's risk of developing breast cancer--in particular, a form of cancer known as a lobular tumor. Overall, results of a case-control study conducted among about...

Age at first sex and human papillomavirus infection linked through behavioral factors and partner's traits. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Young women who initiate sexual intercourse at an early age are more likely than those with later sexual debuts to become infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) in part because of certain behavioral factors and partner characteristics,...

Phone notification option encourages youth at risk of HIV to get test results. (Digests).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Young people who are at high risk for acquiring HIV and who undergo testing for the infection are more likely to seek the test results if they have the option of doing so by telephone than if they have to visit a clinic, according to findings...