Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from September 2005

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from September 2005

Protective factors are not multipurpose.(teenage postponing sexual initiation, survey)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Factors that are associated with teenagers' postponing sexual initiation are not, for the most part, protective against STDs in early adulthood, according to an analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. (1) Six...

What's a pediatrician to do?(counseling methods)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... After reviewing the most up-to-date data on teenage sexual activity, contraceptive use, pregnancy and parenthood, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescence has outlined ways in which pediatricians can address their patients'...

Full moon: uh-oh?(superstition regarding full moon's effect on deliveries)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... In labor wards and delivery rooms, where personnel typically are guided by evidence-based approaches to their work, a superstitious belief that a full moon brings a spike in the number of deliveries or delivery complications causes some staff a...

Mum's the word? Could mean trouble.(survey of abortion patients)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Seventeen percent of abortion patients surveyed at a Houston clinic in mid-2004 had not told their partner about the abortion, generally because they did not think the relationship had a future or they did not feel obliged to tell him. (1)...

No sterilization after all.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Postpartum sterilization is convenient and safe; yet, nearly half of women who requested it while receiving prenatal care at a Chicago hospital in 2002-2003 did not have the operation. (1) In analyses controlling for demographic, prenatal and...

Finding EC is not easy.(survey of emergency departments of Catholic hospitals in providing emergency contraception)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... In phone calls to the emergency departments of all U.S. Catholic hospitals in 2002, a researcher posing as a woman in need of emergency contraception learned that 55% of these facilities do not provide the method, 29% provide it with...

HIV: who should be tested?(Preventive Services Task Force recommends testing pregnant women for HIV infections)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends that all pregnant women, rather than just those considered to be at high risk, be screened for HIV infection. (1) According to the group, a review of the literature from 1983 to 2004...

Is meth worth the worry?(effects of crystal methamphetamine leads to risky sexual behavior)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Although U.S. public health officials and MDS agencies hammer hard at the link between use of crystal methamphetamine and risky sexual behavior that could lead to HIV transmission, experts in Toronto are not so sure about it. 1 In Toronto,...

Slowly, a gap closes.(child health in poor urban neighborhoods)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Maternal and child health disparities between the poorest neighborhoods and others in four metropolitan areas narrowed in the 1990s, but key indicators remain far from ideal levels. (1) Analysts used vital statistics and census data to compare...

Reasons U.S. women have abortions: quantitative and qualitative perspectives.
September 1, 2005... Public discussion about abortion in the United States has generally focused on policy: who should be allowed to have abortions, and under what circumstances. Receiving less attention are the women behind the statistics--the 1.3 million women...

Pregnancy intention from men's perspectives: does child support enforcement matter?
September 1, 2005... Unintended pregnancies and the resulting births, which occur disproportionately among unmarried and young couples, are of particular concern to policymakers and researchers. Although unintended pregnancy rates in the United States have declined...

Neighborhood context and sexual behaviors among adolescents: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
September 1, 2005... Sexual behaviors, including the initiation of sexual intercourse and failure to use contraceptives (or using them incorrectly), place many adolescents at risk for pregnancies and STDs, including HIV. (1) In 2000, an estimated 822,000...

Gonorrhea and chlamydia infection among women visiting family planning clinics: racial variation in prevalence and predictors.
September 1, 2005... Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis are the nation's most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infections, and females aged 15-19 are at higher risk than those of other ages. (1) Infections among these women are especially...

Adolescent partner-type experience: psychosocial and behavioral differences.
September 1, 2005... By the ninth grade, more than one-third of adolescents have had sexual intercourse; by grade 12, nearly two-thirds are sexually experienced. (1) Sexually active adolescents tend to have multiple partners (consecutively or concurrently) and to...

Public opinion about condoms for HIV and STD prevention: a Midwestern state telephone survey.
September 1, 2005... In the United States, STDs are epidemic among young people. About 18.9 million new cases of STDs were reported in 2000; approximately half of those occurred in 15-24-year-olds, although that age-group represented only one-quarter of the...

Many young teenagers consider oral sex more acceptable and less risky than vaginal intercourse.(survey)
September 1, 2005... Ninth graders surveyed in two California public schools had more experience with oral than with vaginal intercourse, and their intended behavior in the next six months favored oral sex. (1) The teenagers estimated that they have less chance of...

Some studies may underestimate condom's role in STD prevention.(DIGESTS)
September 1, 2005... Studies that measure the role of male condoms in preventing STD transmission by comparing users with nonusers may underestimate the method's effectiveness because of differences between users and nonusers that are difficult to measure. (1) In a...

Social factors may explain why youth who move are at risk of sexual initiation.(Digests)
September 1, 2005... Teenagers who have recently moved are more likely than others to begin having premarital sex, but moving itself--which has adverse consequences on a range of adolescent behaviors--does not explain the adoption of this behavior. (1) In a sample...

Adding a skills-based component to STD prevention efforts may increase their success among teenagers.(Digests)
September 1, 2005... Interventions that emphasize STD risk reduction skills may be more effective at lowering the prevalence of risky behaviors and preventing infection among teenage women than programs that simply provide information about how to reduce risk. (1)...

Likelihood that cesarean may have been unneeded differs by women's race.(Digests)
September 1, 2005... Eleven percent of primary and 65% of repeat cesarean deliveries performed in the United States in 2001 may not have been clinically necessary, according to an analysis of data from a large, nationally representative database. (1) White women...

Early first sex may not lead to increased STD risk during young adulthood.(sexually transmitted diseases)
September 1, 2005... Early initiation of sexual intercourse is associated with an increased likelihood of STD infection among teenagers and young adults overall, but the magnitude and strength of the association vary by current age, according to findings from the...