Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2021
Predictors of Gestational Weight Gain Examined As a Continuous Outcome: A Prospective Analysis.
Background: Excess gestational weight gain (GWG) is common and adversely affects both mothers and offspring, including increasing the risk of maternal and childhood obesity. GWG is typically examined categorically, with women grouped into categories of those who gain above, within, and below guideline recommendations. Examining GWG as a continuous variable, rather than categorically, allows for a consideration of GWG at a finer level of detail, increasing precision. ⋯ Results: We found that a common set of variables (parity, prepregnancy body mass index, planned pregnancy weight gain, smoking, pregnancy-related food cravings, and fast food intake) significantly predicted GWG in a manner consistent across the four GWG outcomes. Certain psychological factors, including the perception of families' and friends' attitudes toward the food cravings of pregnant women, emotion suppression, compensatory health beliefs coupled with eating unhealthy foods, frequent prepregnancy dietary restraint in carbohydrates, sugar, and meals, preferred prepregnancy body size image, agreeable and conscientious personalities, and depression, also were related with GWG. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that psychological factors play an important role in the magnitude of GWG, providing key avenues to inform interventions to support healthy weight gain in pregnancy.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2021
Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms and Antidepressant Use in Young Australian Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Background: Despite the high prevalence of depression among adult women, the proportion of reproductive-aged women with moderate or severe depressive symptoms is uncertain, as is the proportion taking antidepressant medication. We report the prevalence of depressive symptoms in young Australian women, risk factors for depressive symptoms, and psychoactive drug use. Methods: An online survey was completed by population-based sample of 6,986 Australian women, aged 18-39 years, recruited from November 2016 to July 2017. ⋯ A previous cancer diagnosis was the strongest risk factor for current antidepressant use, whereas compared with being of European ancestry, being Asian or of another ancestry was associated with a lower likelihood of antidepressant use. Conclusion: The prevalence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms among young Australian women is alarming. Prevention strategies targeting the sociodemographic circumstances underpinning the identified risk factors are urgently needed.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2021
Mediating Effects of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors on the Association Between Maternal Race-Ethnicity and Cesarean Delivery Among Low-Risk Women.
Background: While racial-ethnic disparities in cesarean delivery rates among nulliparous women delivering a term singleton in the vertex position (NTSV) exist, it remains unclear the extent to which potentially modifiable maternal cardiometabolic risk factors (obesity, maternal hyperglycemia and hypertensive disorders) underlie these disparities. We examined race-ethnicity and risk of NTSV cesarean deliveries and whether the associations were mediated by maternal cardiometabolic risk factors. Materials and Methods: A cohort study of 62,048 NTSV deliveries in Kaiser Permanente Northern California. ⋯ Hypertensive disorders mediated 3.2% (0.70-5.8) of the association between Black race and cesarean delivery, but not for other race-ethnicities. Conclusion: Black, Asian, and Hispanic women are at increased risk for NTSV cesarean deliveries. Maternal cardiometabolic risk factors only partially mediate the associations between race-ethnicity and NSTV cesarean deliveries.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2021
Food and Drug Administration Beyond the 2001 Government Accountability Office Report: Promoting Drug Safety for Women.
A 2001 U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report indicated 8 of 10 drugs withdrawn from the U. ⋯ All, but one of the drugs discontinued from the market for safety-related reasons during the period examined were approved between 1957 and 2002. TdP and DILI are two relevant examples of drug-induced adverse events posing greater risk to women than men. FDA has made measurable progress incorporating consideration of sex and gender differences into drug trial development and FDA review of these data, supporting inclusion of women in clinical trials, providing a comprehensive drug safety review, and advancing postmarket surveillance and risk assessment, thus strengthening FDA's ability to protect public health.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2021
Gender Disparity in the Funding of Diseases by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Background: Gender bias has been an ongoing issue in health care, examples being underrepresentation of women in health studies, trivialization of women's physical complaints, and discrimination in the awarding of research grants. We examine here a different issue-gender disparity when it comes to the allocation of research funding among diseases. Materials and Methods: We perform an analysis of funding by the U. ⋯ Moreover, the disparity between actual funding and that which is commensurate with burden is nearly twice as large for diseases that favor males versus those that favor females. A chi-square test yields a p-value of 0.015, suggesting that our conclusions are representative of the full NIH disease portfolio. Conclusions: NIH applies a disproportionate share of its resources to diseases that affect primarily men, at the expense of those that affect primarily women.