Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in OBGYN & Women's Health for March 2011. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.
U.S. Birth Rate Declined 4 Percent from 2007 to 2009
THURSDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- After peaking at 4,316,233 births in 2007, the birth rate in the United States fell 4 percent by 2009, and a provisional count in 2010 indicates the number is continuing to decline, according to a March data brief released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
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Race/Ethnicity Linked to Risk of Antenatal Depression
THURSDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Black and Asian/Pacific Islander women are more likely to experience antenatal depression than non-Hispanic whites, according to a study published online Jan. 31 in General Hospital Psychiatry.
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Growth Hormone Increases Adult Height in Turner's
THURSDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment with growth hormone may result in greater adult height for girls with Turner's syndrome, and the addition of low-dose estrogen to the treatment regimen may further improve results, according to research published in the March 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Medical Abortion by Certified Nurses Safe and Effective
THURSDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Medical abortions by midlevel providers (MLPs), up to nine weeks gestation, are as safe and effective as those provided by doctors, according to a study published online March 31 in The Lancet.
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Exercise Plus Dieting Superior in Older Obese Individuals
WEDNESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Dieting plus exercise may be better than either alone for improvement in physical function in older adults who are obese, according to research published in the March 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Two-Thirds of U.S. Residents Get Sufficient Vitamin D
WEDNESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- About two-thirds of the U.S. population takes in sufficient amounts of vitamin D, but 8 percent may be at risk for vitamin D deficiency, according to a March data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
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Pacifier Use Does Not Affect Breast-Feeding Duration
WEDNESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Pacifier use in healthy, full-term newborns, introduced before or after breast-feeding is established, has little impact on the prevalence or duration of breast-feeding up to four months, according to a review published online in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
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Safflower Oil Improves Glycemia, Inflammation, Lipids
WEDNESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Supplementation with safflower (SAF) oil improves glycemia, inflammation, and blood lipids compared to treatment with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in postmenopausal obese women, according to a study published online Jan. 12 in Clinical Nutrition.
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Online Health Records Less Used by Minorities, Poor
WEDNESDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Online personal health records (PHRs) are less frequently used by racial or ethnic minorities and patients with low annual income, according to a study published in the March 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Inadequacies Identified in HIV Health Care Provision
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- The health system is inadequately prepared for the challenges of addressing the health needs of HIV-positive individuals, according to the report "HIV Screening and Access to Care," published online March 17 by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
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Ethnicity Tied to Worry About Breast Cancer Recurrence
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Race and ethnicity have a significant impact on the amount women with breast cancer worry about recurrence, with less acculturated Latina women being especially susceptible to high levels of worry, according to a study published online March 28 in Cancer.
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Ambulatory BP Helps Identify Resistant Hypertension
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a useful prognosis tool to differentiate between true and white coat resistant hypertension, according to a study published online March 28 in Hypertension.
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Decline Seen in Global Youth Mortality Over Last 50 Years
TUESDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Overall mortality declined substantially between 1955 and 2004 in children aged 14 years or younger and in females aged 15 to 24, but a smaller decline was evident for males aged 15 to 24 years, according to a study published online March 29 in The Lancet.
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Citalopram, Finasteride Potentially Mislabeled
MONDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Lots of citalopram, an antidepressant, and finasteride, used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, are being recalled by Greenstone LLC due to possible mislabeling of the bottles, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced.
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Use of Strategies to Reduce Risk of Opioid Misuse Is Low
FRIDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- The use of opioid risk-reduction strategies by primary care physicians is limited, even among patients at particular risk of misuse, according to a study published online Feb. 24 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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Libido Unaffected by Endocrine Therapy in Breast Cancer
FRIDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Sexual desire in patients with breast cancer is not affected by adjuvant endocrine therapy, but is significantly reduced in those women with chemotherapy- or gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist-induced menopause, according to a study published online March 2 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
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Maternal Anemia Associated With Childhood Wheezing
THURSDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Maternal anemia during pregnancy is linked with wheezing and asthma in early childhood, according to a study published in the February issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
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Safety Programs Boost Staff Perception of Safety Culture
THURSDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Obstetrics patient safety programs can improve staff perceptions of safety and the safety culture, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
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Reduced Hours for Trainees Has Had Little Effect in U.S.
THURSDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Reducing work hours for doctors in training to less than 80 per week has had little impact on patient outcomes or postgraduate training in the United States, according to a literature review published online March 22 in BMJ.
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Episodic Physical or Sexual Activity Linked to MI
TUESDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Episodic physical and sexual activity is associated with an increased risk of acute cardiac events, especially myocardial infarction (MI), although the risk is attenuated by increased habitual activity, according to a meta-analysis published in the March 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Long-Term Tamoxifen Lowers Breast CA Recurrence Risk
TUESDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Women with breast cancer who take tamoxifen for five years appear to have a lower risk of recurrence or contralateral breast cancer 15 years after starting treatment as compared to women who take the drug for two years, and they may also have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death from a cardiovascular event, according to a study published online March 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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Increased Melanoma Incidence Tied to Socioeconomic Status
TUESDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- High socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to ultraviolet-radiation (UV-R) are associated with increased malignant melanoma incidence among adolescent girls and young women, according to a study published online March 21 in the Archives of Dermatology.
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Seven-Day On-Off Capecitabine Cycle Treats Breast Cancer
TUESDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with capecitabine administered for seven days followed by seven days of rest in combination with bevacizumab has modest efficacy and minimal toxicity, as predicted previously by mathematical modeling, according to a study published online March 8 in Cancer.
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Group B Strep Still Main Cause of Neonatal Meningitis
MONDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- Group B streptococci (GBS) is still the dominant cause of neonatal bacterial meningitis, whereas Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most common cause among preterm infants, according to a study published in the March issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
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Uterine Risk Factors Impact Endometrial Cancer Survival
FRIDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Uterine risk factors (RF) strongly influence survival of women with endometrial cancer, independent of nodal metastasis, according to research published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
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Premenstrual Mood Swings May Worsen Bipolar Disorder
FRIDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Women with bipolar disorder who experience premenstrual exacerbation of their symptoms are more likely to have a worse course of illness, a shorter time to relapse, and more severe symptoms, according to a study published online Feb. 15 in The American Journal of Psychiatry.
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Bulking Agent Injections Effective in Fecal Incontinence
FRIDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- A transanal submucosal injection of dextranomer in stabilized hyaluronic acid (NASHA Dx) is an effective treatment for fecal incontinence, according to a study published in the March 19 issue of The Lancet.
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Professional Values of U.S. and U.K. Doctors Examined
THURSDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- A core of professional values exists among doctors in the United States and the United Kingdom, though significant differences exist in how these values are expressed and prioritized, according to a study published online March 7 in BMJ Quality & Safety.
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17-Hydroxyprogesterone Does Not Lower Neonatal Morbidity
THURSDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- Prophylactic treatment with 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17Pc) in twin pregnancy does not reduce neonatal morbidity or prolong gestation, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
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Short Nurse Staffing Linked to Higher Patient Mortality
WEDNESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Patient mortality appears to be higher when nurse staffing falls eight or more hours below target level and during nursing shifts when patient turnover is high, according to research published in the March 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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U.S. Death Rate Reaches All-Time Low
WEDNESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- The age-adjusted death rate for the United States has fallen for 10 straight years and has reached an all-time low of 741 per 100,000, or 2,436,682 deaths, in 2009, down 2.3 percent from 2008, according to a new report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
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Denervated Muscles Involved in Contracture Pathogenesis
WEDNESDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Impaired growth of biceps and brachialis muscles causes elbow flexion contractures, and impaired subscapularis muscle growth causes shoulder internal rotation contracture following brachial plexus injuries in neonatal mice, according to research published in the March 2 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
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Heavy Smoking Prevalence Decline Greatest in California
TUESDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- Between 1965 and 2007, the prevalence of high-intensity smoking declined in California and in the remaining states, according to a study published in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Local Immune Response Predictive of Cancer Prognosis
MONDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- Immunological CD8 and FOXP3 cell infiltrate after neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be a predictive factor of survival for patients with breast cancer, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in The Journal of Pathology.
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Tamoxifen Offers Cost-Effective Breast Cancer Prophylaxis
MONDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- Tamoxifen chemoprophylaxis is a cost-effective therapy that successfully reduces breast cancer incidence among women younger than 55 years, even after the drug is discontinued, according to a study published online March 14 in Cancer.
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U.S. Has Higher Rates of Chronic Disease Than England
MONDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- Americans experience higher rates of chronic disease and markers of disease than their English counterparts at all ages, according to a study published online March 9 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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Menopausal Symptoms Improve After Acupuncture Treatment
FRIDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Acupuncture may be an effective alternative therapy for reducing menopausal complaints, especially the severity of hot flushes, according to a study published in the March issue of Acupuncture in Medicine.
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Coffee Consumption Linked to Lower Stroke Risk in Women
FRIDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Women who consume one or more cups of coffee daily have a lower risk of stroke than those who consume less than one cup of coffee a day, according to a study published online March 10 in Stroke.
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Impact of Adiposity Measures on Heart Disease Risk Alike
FRIDAY, March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio all have a similar strength of association with cardiovascular disease, but do not significantly improve risk prediction when information on blood pressure, diabetes, and lipid levels is available, according to a study published online March 11 in The Lancet.
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Number of Cancer Survivors in U.S. Reaches 11.7 Million
THURSDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- The number of cancer survivors in the United States had increased to nearly 12 million by 2007, according to a report in the March 11 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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Benlysta Approved for Lupus
THURSDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Benlysta (belimumab) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat lupus, the first medication sanctioned for the condition in the United States since 1955.
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High Polychlorinated Biphenyl Concentrations May Affect IVF
THURSDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Higher serum polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration levels that are within the normal range for women in the general U.S. population are associated with failed implantation in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a study published online Feb. 24 in Environmental Health Perspectives.
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Coding of Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis Delayed
THURSDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Free text contains extra information relating to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and in some cases indicates a time lag between the diagnosis and coding in the medical record, according to a study published online Feb. 23 in BMJ Open.
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HealthGrades Finds Rates of Patient Safety Events Vary
WEDNESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Patients treated at hospitals rated with a HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award have, on average, a 46 percent lower risk of experiencing a patient safety incident compared to those treated at the lowest-ranked hospitals, according to the eighth annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study published online March 9.
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Ethnic Differences Seen in Academic Measures for U.K. Docs
WEDNESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- United Kingdom-trained physicians and medical students with ethnic minority backgrounds tend to underperform academically compared to their white peers, according to a meta-analysis published online March 8 in BMJ.
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Blacks, Hispanics Face Breast Cancer Treatment Delays
WEDNESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Black and Hispanic women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely than white women to experience treatment delays of over a month, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
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Pharmacological Meta-Analyses Rarely Report Disclosures
TUESDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Meta-analyses of pharmacological treatments rarely include information addressing primary study funding and conflicts of interest (COIs) of the authors for the included randomized control trials (RCTs), according to a study published in the March 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Diabetes Belt Identified in Southern United States
TUESDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- A geographically congruent "diabetes belt" with high prevalence of diabetes exists in the United States, according to a study published online March 8 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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Mediterranean Diet Tied to Lower Metabolic Syndrome Risk
TUESDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and has beneficial effects on its individual components, according to a meta-analysis published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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Low-Level Lead Exposure May Spike Blood Pressure in Labor
TUESDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Low-level lead exposure, measured by umbilical blood lead levels, suggests a significant association with elevations in maternal blood pressure during labor and delivery, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in Environmental Health Perspectives.
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Cerebral Palsy Incidence Down in Preterm Survivors
MONDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- The incidence and severity of cerebral palsy (CP) among preterm survivors decreased significantly from 1990 to 1993 onward, possibly because of a reduction in severe cystic periventricular leukomalacia (c-PVL), according to a study published online March 3 in The Journal of Pediatrics.
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Cancer Patients Willing to Undergo Pre-Trial Testing
MONDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with advanced malignancies appear to be quite willing to undergo pharmacodynamic (PD) and pharmacokinetic (PK) tests in order to be enrolled in clinical trials, according to research published online Jan. 18 in Cancer.
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New Noninvasive Method for Diagnosis of Trisomy 21
MONDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- A combined approach using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDiP) and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) of maternal peripheral blood allows noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) of trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome), according to research published online March 6 in Nature Medicine.
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FDA: Topiramate (Topamax) Tied to Risk of Oral Clefts
FRIDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notified health care providers and consumers that new data indicate that women who take topiramate (Topamax) during pregnancy increase the risk for cleft lip and cleft palate in their offspring.
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Sexual Behavior in U.S. Adults Little Changed Since 2002
THURSDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Most adults in the United States have experienced vaginal sex, but the number of younger adults reporting no sexual contact has increased since 2002, according to the March issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Statistics Report.
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Women With Fibroids Prefer Minimally Invasive Treatment
THURSDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Women are willing to wait longer with their symptoms to delay a more invasive procedure for uterine fibroids compared to how long they would delay a noninvasive one, according to a study published online March 1 in Radiology.
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Eribulin Improves Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer
THURSDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Among women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer, eribulin mesilate may significantly improve survival compared to currently available treatments, according to a study published online March 3 in The Lancet.
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Maternal Opioid Use Tied to Higher Birth Defect Risk
WEDNESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Maternal use of opioid analgesics just prior to or during early pregnancy is associated with a modestly higher risk of certain birth defects, according to a study published online Feb. 24 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
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Obesity Rate in Canada Not As High As in United States
WEDNESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- More North Americans are obese today than were 20 years ago, and the prevalence of obesity in Canada is about 10 percentage points lower than it is in the United States, according to a data report issued March 2 by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
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Current and Former Smokers at Higher Breast Cancer Risk
WEDNESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Postmenopausal women who used to smoke or who currently smoke appear to be at a higher risk of invasive breast cancer than postmenopausal women who never smoked, according to a study published online March 1 in BMJ.
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Women Underrepresented in Cardiovascular Device Trials
WEDNESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- There is a lack of sex-specific data relating to the safety and effectiveness of high-risk cardiovascular devices prior to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, according to a review published online March 1 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
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Obesity Associated With Risk of Dissimilar Breast Cancers
WEDNESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- High body mass index (BMI) and low levels of physical activity are associated with increased risk of triple-negative and estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers in postmenopausal women, according to a study published online March 1 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
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Risk of Death From Heart Attacks Not Linked to Gender
TUESDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- The association between female gender and increased mortality among patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) does not persist after adjusting for age and comorbidities, according to a study published in the January issue of the American Heart Journal.
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U.S. Breast Cancer Incidence Rates Stabilized After 2003
TUESDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer incidence rates among non-Hispanic (NH) white women in the United States stabilized between 2003 and 2007 after a sharp decline between 2002 and 2003 that followed a drop in the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, according to a study published online Feb. 28 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
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Doctors, NPs Equally Effective in Helping Patients Lose Weight
TUESDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Health care professionals can play a big role in helping overweight patients lose weight and maintain weight loss, starting with acknowledging their overweight status in the first place, according to two studies published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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