Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
A prospective study of weight gain after premenopausal hysterectomy.
Many women who have had hysterectomies have the perception that they gained weight after surgery that cannot be attributed to changes in diet or physical activity. The purpose of this analysis was to assess weight gain in premenopausal women in the first year after hysterectomy compared with a control group of women with intact uteri and ovaries. ⋯ Women undergoing hysterectomies appear to be at higher risk for weight gain in the first year after surgery. Heavier women and women who have had weight fluctuations throughout adulthood may be at greater risk for postsurgical weight gain, suggesting that lifestyle interventions to maintain or lose weight may be particularly helpful for these women in the months following hysterectomy.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Persistence of Maternal Depressive Symptoms throughout the Early Years of Childhood.
The purpose of these analyses was to examine the persistence and predictors of elevated depressive symptoms in 884 women over their children's preschool years. ⋯ Women who report symptoms of depression when their children are young are highly likely to continue to report such symptoms. These results support the need to screen for elevated depressive symptoms at varying intervals depending on prior screening results and for screening in locations where women most at risk routinely visit, such as well-child clinics. Further, these results point to the need for a system to identify and manage this common treatable condition because these elevated symptoms continue throughout their children's preschool years for a substantial portion of women.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Comparative StudySelf-reported medication and herb/supplement use by women with and without fibromyalgia.
Using a telephone survey of 434 women who self-reported having and 198 women, who denied having fibromyalgia (FM) (aged 18-80 years), we compared women on self-reported number, major types, and effectiveness of currently taken conventional medications and herbs/supplements. ⋯ Substantial numbers of women with FM were taking pain medications that often lacked evidence for effectiveness. The variety of medications being taken by women with FM compared with women without FM indicates that there are few medications that consistently provide symptom alleviation for this condition.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Intimate partner violence and functional health status: associations with severity, danger, and self-advocacy behaviors.
To assess physical and mental functional health status as associated with the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) and perceived danger. ⋯ These findings suggest that IPV takes a greater mental than physical toll (for both sexes) and that as IPV severity increases, mental health functioning diminishes and self-advocacy behaviors increase. Additionally, as perceived danger increases, both physical and mental health status worsens. This has important implications for clinicians to assess and consider IPV victims' perceptions of their situations relative to danger, not just the levels of abuse they are experiencing.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Addressing social determinants of health to improve access to early breast cancer detection: results of the Boston REACH 2010 Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition Women's Health Demonstration Project.
The Boston Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition developed a case management intervention for women of African descent to identify and reduce medical and social obstacles to breast cancer screening and following up abnormal results. ⋯ Case management was successful at promoting mammography screening uptake, although no change in longitudinal patterns was found. Housing concerns and lacking a regular provider should be addressed to promote mammography uptake. Future research should provide social assessment and address social obstacles in a randomized controlled setting to confirm the efficacy of social determinant approaches to improve mammography use.