Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from November 2002

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from November 2002

Teenage sexual behavior: the trends may surprise you. (FYI).(Abstract)
November 1, 2002... Between 1991 and 2001, the proportion of U.S. high school students who had ever had intercourse dropped significantly, from 54% to 46%, according to an analysis of data from six Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. (1) Declines occurred among males and...

Condom donations are shrinking. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The number of condoms donated each year to developing countries has fallen during the past decade, from 970 million to 950 million, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). (1) The U.S. donation decreased dramatically--from 800...

Campaign to Eliminate Syphylis gets mixed results. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... In 2000, the year after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated the National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis in the United States, the rate of primary and secondary syphilis dropped to a record low of 2.1 cases per 100,000...

Go practice on someone else! (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Three in 10 women surveyed at a gynecology clinic in England said that they would not permit a medical student to perform an "intimate examination," regardless of the student's gender. (1) Nearly one-quarter said they would allow a female...

Sexual health is suffering in Europe. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The number of newly diagnosed HIV infections that were sexually acquired increased by 20% between 1995 and 2000 in 10 western European countries that collaborate on routine AIDS surveillance. (1) With the overall number of diagnoses relatively...

It's 10 o'clock: do you know where your children are? (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Forty-two percent of young people who begin engaging in intercourse at ages 16-18 have their first sexual experience between 10 P.M. and seven A.M., and another 28% first have sex during the hours of 6-10 P.M. (1) Only 15%, according to data...

Vaginal use of pill reduces side effects. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The vaginal route of pill use is better tolerated than the oral route, according to a clinical trial conducted at a family planning clinic in Tehran, Iran. (1) The study participants- 143 fertile women aged 18-40 who were not lactating, had not...

The toll of unwanted pregnancy. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Over the six years following the UN International Conference on Population and Development, unwanted pregnancies led to the deaths of nearly 700,000 women worldwide, accounting for about 21% of maternal mortality. (1) According to a Global...

Breastfeeding is not catching on. (FYI).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Only 47% of American children younger than six included in a nationally representative survey taken in 1991-1994 had been exclusively breastfed when they were one week old, and only 10% at six months of age. (1) Exclusive breastfeeding for the...

Chronically homeless women's perceived deterrents to contraception. (Articles).
November 1, 2002... CONTEXT: Despite the growing number of homeless women of reproductive age, little is known about their reproductive health and contraceptive use. METHODS: A representative sample of 974 currently homeless women surveyed in Los Angeles...

Marriage among unwed mothers: whites, blacks and Hispanics compared.
November 1, 2002... CONTEXT: Much of the debate over welfare reauthorization centers on whether marriage promotion should play a key role. Few studies, however, have tracked the marriage and divorce histories of unwed mothers, including minority women, who are...

Contraceptive use among U.S. women having abortions in 2000-2001.
November 1, 2002... CONTEXT: Knowing the extent to which contraceptive nonuse, incorrect or inconsistent use, and method failure account for unintended pregnancies ending in abortion, as well as reasons for nonuse and imperfect use, can help policymakers and...

Sexual intercourse and the age difference between adolescent females and their romantic partners. (Research Note).
November 1, 2002... CONTEXT: The age difference between a female and her partner may influence relationship dynamics in ways that put the female at increased risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Very little is known, however, about how...

Current contraceptive research. (Special Report).
November 1, 2002... In making contraceptive choices, couples balance their sexual lives, their reproductive goals, and each partner's health and safety. The search for a choice that satisfies all three objectives presents significant challenges for women and men...

14 years ago in Perspectives.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... As Malcolm Potts, then head of Family Health International, saw it in 1988, U.S. women had too few contraceptive options, and as a result of "medicolegal and product liability fears," the prospects for introducing new methods were not as bright...

Children with prenatal cocaine exposure have elevated risk of cognitive impairments at least until age two. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Children exposed to cocaine in utero are more likely to experience cognitive deficits for as long as two years after birth than are children not exposed to the drug. (1) Among 415 infants born at an urban hospital between 1994 and 1996, those...

Among young adults, use of the internet to find sexual partners is rising. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... The Internet is playing an increasing role in the sex lives of some young people, according to findings from an on-line survey conducted in 2000. (1) Respondents aged 18-24 who had ever met a partner through the Internet reported having found...

In developed and developing countries, breast cancer risk is reduced by 4% for each year of breastfeeding. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... For every 12 months that a woman breastfeeds, her risk of breast cancer declines by 4%, according to an analysis of 47 epidemiologic studies in 30 countries; this reduction is essentially the same in developing and developed countries, and for...

Estrogen-only therapy after menopause is linked to ovarian cancer. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Postmenopausal women who use estrogen-only replacement therapy are at increased risk for ovarian cancer, especially after 10 or more years of use. (1) Postmenopausal women in a prospective cohort study who had ever used estrogen-only therapy...

Health of mothers, babies may be compromised in planned home births. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Compared with women who plan to have their baby delivered in a hospital, women who intend to have their baby delivered by a professional provider at home have a greater likelihood of complications during and after labor and delivery, and their...

Low birth weight, preterm risks grow when women have psychiatric problems. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Pregnant women with a documented psychiatric disorder or substance abuse problem have a significantly elevated risk of having poor birth outcomes, according to results of a population-based study conducted in California. (1) Among infants born...

Use of multiple anti-HIV drugs does not raise risk of adverse birth outcomes. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Among HIV-infected pregnant women, those who receive combination antiretroviral drug therapy have rates of premature delivery and stillbirth similar to those receiving monotherapy or no therapy, and they are no more likely to deliver a baby...

Among women in jail, whites are at the greatest risk of acquiring HIV. (Digests).
November 1, 2002... Behaviors that put women in danger of acquiring HIV are common among jail detainees, but some groups of women in jail engage in riskier behaviors than others. (1) White women report having had more sexual partners in the past year than blacks...