Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2023
Pregnancy Conceptualizations in Women Who Have Had Recent Bariatric Surgery.
Objectives: To describe bariatric surgery patients' perioperative conceptualizations about pregnancy. Materials and Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study performed in 2016, evaluating a nationally recruited convenience sample of U. S. women aged 18-45 years who underwent bariatric surgery within the past 24 months. ⋯ Most used postoperative contraception (66%, n = 241), and those who felt it was important to avoid pregnancy more likely used contraception (82%, n = 197) than those who did not feel it was important (18%, n = 44, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Women undergoing bariatric surgery have diverse and complex conceptualizations about future pregnancy. These varied based on time from surgery and influenced postoperative contraceptive use.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2023
Gender Composition in Biomedical Research Grant Submissions and Grant Review Panels Before Versus During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Purpose: This study examined the gender composition of career development award applicants and grant review panels during the pandemic compared with that beforehand. Methods: Data were collected from 14 Health Research Alliance (HRA) organizations, which fund biomedical research and training. HRA members provided the gender of grant applicants and grant reviewers during the pandemic (April 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) and prepandemic (April 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020). ⋯ Also driven by changes for this one funder, the percentage of total grant reviewers who were women increased significantly during the pandemic (45.9%) compared with that during prepandemic (38.8%; p = 0.001), but the median percentage of women grant reviewers across organizations remained similar during the pandemic (43.6%) and prepandemic periods (38.2%; p = 0.53). Conclusions: In a sample of research organizations, the gender composition of grant applicants and grant review panels remained similar, except for the review panel composition for one large funder. Given evidence from other studies that have revealed gender differences in other career and life experiences of scientists during the pandemic, ongoing evaluation of women's representation in grant submission and review mechanisms is essential.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2023
Trends in Screening for Diabetes in Early Pregnancy in the United States.
Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize current diabetes screening practices in the first trimester of pregnancy in the United States, evaluate patient characteristics and risk factors associated with early diabetes screening, and compare perinatal outcomes by early diabetes screening. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of US medical claims data of persons diagnosed with a viable intrauterine pregnancy and who presented for care with private insurance before 14 weeks of gestation, without pre-existing pregestational diabetes, from the IBM MarketScan® database for the period January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate perinatal outcomes. ⋯ In adjusted logistic regression, history of gestational diabetes (adjusted odds ratio 3.99; 95% confidence interval 3.73-4.26) had the strongest association with early diabetes screening. Adverse perinatal outcomes, including a higher rate of cesarean delivery, preterm delivery, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes, occurred more frequently among women who underwent early diabetes screening. Conclusions: First-trimester early diabetes screening was mostly commonly performed by hemoglobin A1c evaluation, and persons who underwent early diabetes screening were more likely to experience adverse perinatal outcomes.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2023
Women Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus with Intended and Unintended Pregnancy: Characteristics and Patient Outcomes.
Background: Rates of unintended pregnancy may be higher in women living with human immunodeficiency virus (WLWH) than in the general population, and it is unclear how populations of WLWH with intended and unintended pregnancy differ. We compared baseline characteristics and outcomes between WLWH with intended and unintended pregnancy. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of WLWH enrolled in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Pregnancy clinic from 2003 to 2014. ⋯ WWIP were less likely to use tobacco (15.9% vs. 44.2%, p < 0.001), alcohol (2.9% vs. 11.1%, p = 0.041), opiates (0.0% vs. 19.3%, p < 0.001), or cocaine (2.9% vs. 21.0%, p < 0.001) during pregnancy, more likely to disclose their HIV status to the father of the baby by delivery (100.0% vs. 15.8%, p < 0.001), and more likely to receive less effective contraception at delivery (condoms 14.9% vs. 4.8%, p = 0.024; sterilization 11.9% vs. 22.1%, p = 0.028). In multivariate regression analysis, pregnancy intendedness was an important predictor of nondetectable viral load at pregnancy entry but not at delivery. Conclusions: WLWH vary in their baseline characteristics and pregnancy outcomes depending on pregnancy intendedness, highlighting the need to improve pregnancy timing in WLWH and intensify interventions for women with unintended pregnancy.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2023
Prepregnancy Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in a Safety-Net Hospital.
Background: Many adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) are associated with elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, APO data in the context of pre-existing CVD risk factors, and from diverse populations, are limited. We assessed the occurrence of APOs among individuals with and without prepregnancy CVD risk factors, overall and by race/ethnicity. ⋯ Overall, 45.7% of APOs occurred in the absence of recognized prepregnancy CVD risk factors, representing 16.3% of the total sample. Among individuals without prepregnancy CVD risk factors, APO prevalence was 30.0% and did not vary by race/ethnicity. Conclusions: In this racially and ethnically diverse hospital-based sample, APOs were present in one in three parous individuals without prepregnancy CVD risk factors-a group with potentially elevated CVD risk who might otherwise be missed by traditional CVD risk factor screening.