Women Prefer Female Endoscopists
Nearly half of women prefer a female endoscopist for colorectal cancer screening, reported Stacy B. Menees, M.D., and her associates at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
A questionnaire completed by 202 of 212 women while waiting for the primary care physician (PCP) showed that 43% preferred a woman endoscopist; 69% of these women had a female PCP.
Among women with a female preference, 87% were willing to wait more than 30 extra days for a woman and 14% would be willing to pay more for a woman. Overall, 5% of the respondents would refuse to undergo a colonoscopy unless guaranteed a woman. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, having a female PCP and being currently employed were independent predictors of preferring a female endoscopist (Gastrointest. Endosc. 2005;62:219–23).
Female Victimization and Violence
Girls who reported being the victims of violence were 2.2 times more likely to engage in violent behavior themselves, wrote Beth E. Molnar, Sc.D., and her colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston (Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 2005;159:731–9).
In a longitudinal study, a population-based sample of 637 girls aged 9–15 years at baseline participated in three home interviews between November 1995 and January 2002.
Overall, 38% of the girls reported engaging in at least one violent act during the previous 12 months at baseline; 28% reported violent behavior during the past 12 months at the first follow-up interview; and 14% reported violent behavior at the second follow-up interview.
S. aureus Tied to Surgical Infection
Surgical site infections were significantly more likely among women who harbored Staphylococcus aureus prior to undergoing breast cancer surgery, according to data from 615 patients, A. Krishna, M.D., said at the joint annual meeting of the Surgical Infection Society and the Surgical Infection Society-Europe.
In a multicenter, prospective study conducted by Dr. Krishna and his colleagues at South Glasgow (Scotland) University Hospital, 83 of the 615 women (14%) carried S. aureus, as determined by preoperative nasal, axillary, and perineal swabs.
Within 30 days post surgery, surgical site infections occurred in 22 of the 83 women with S. aureus, compared with 75 of 532 women without S. aureus (27% vs. 14%, respectively).
The women enrolled in the study were undergoing primary surgery for breast cancer and were part of a larger randomized, controlled study of prophylactic antibiotic use.
Older Moms May Have Special Genes
Women who give birth after age 45 may have a special set of genes that makes them more fertile than average women, according to Israeli researchers.
“These women are models for us to learn about fertility,” Neri Laufer, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Dr. Laufer of Hadassah University Medical Center, Jerusalem, outlined his work with more than 200 Ashkenazi Jewish women who had conceived spontaneously after the age of 45 (Fertil. Steril. 2004;81:1328–32). “More than 80% of these women have six children or more and a low miscarriage rate,” he said. Genetic profiling performed on eight of these women identified a clustering of genes that decreases apoptosis and increases DNA repair.
“These women appear to differ from the normal population due to a unique genetic predisposition that protects them from the DNA damage and cellular aging that helps age the ovary,” Dr. Laufer said.
Discuss Wine With Pregnant Patients
Take time to focus specifically on wine consumption when routinely questioning pregnant patients about their use of alcohol.
That was the message in a poster on a study of alcohol consumption during pregnancy presented at the annual meeting of the Teratology Society.
The prospective, clinic-based cohort study involved 4,494 women interviewed at their first prenatal visit. Of these, 16% reported signs consistent with alcohol abuse and dependence, and half of those reported steady or binge drinking during pregnancy, reported William Rayburn, M.D., of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and his colleagues.
In all, 208 of the women with signs of alcohol abuse or dependence completed the study.
Wine was the beverage of choice for about 25% of participants. Those who drank wine tended to consume lower quantities of alcohol, but a high percentage (43%) of wine drinkers continued their wine drinking after becoming aware of their pregnancy.
From staff reports