Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2020
Editorial CommentThe Positive Impact of Primary hrHPV Self-Testing.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2020
Development and Psychometric Validation of a Screening Questionnaire to Detect Excessive Menstrual Blood Loss That Interferes in Quality of Life: The SAMANTA Questionnaire.
Background: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) affects up to 35% of women at some point in their lives, and has an important impact on their quality of life (QoL). Current techniques to assess and quantify menstrual blood loss are inconvenient and the correlation between actual and perceived blood loss is poor. This study aimed to develop and validate a screening questionnaire in Spanish to identify HMB in women of reproductive age. Methods: The study consisted of two phases: the conceptual development of a set of items to discriminate between women with and without HMB and the assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of these items. ⋯ For the psychometric validation phase, 389 patients were enrolled, of whom 364 were assessable: 211 cases with Pictorial Blood loss Assessment Chart-confirmed excessive menstrual loss (EML) and 153 controls. Six items met entry criteria in the model and together yielded a sensitivity of 86.7% and specificity of 89.5% to identify cases and controls. These items were weighted according to their contribution to the final model to yield a tool that can be scored from 0 to 10 being 3 the cutoff point to diagnose EML that interferes in QoL. Conclusions: The 6-item SAMANTA questionnaire represents a valid screening tool to easily identify women with EML that interfere with QoL.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2020
Associations of Inflammation, Physical Activity, and Sleep in a Diverse Population of Women.
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in United States with a recent rise seen in young adults, particularly women. Systemic inflammation, physical activity, and sleep are each individually linked to CVD risk. Whether there is an interaction of these variables, however, is unclear. ⋯ Stratification by race/ethnicity showed that high risk of OSA was associated with CRP ≥2 mg/L among racial/ethnic minorities but not white women (OR [95% CI]: 2.75 [1.43-5.30] vs. 0.94 [0.31-2.88]). Conclusion: High risk of OSA and elevated CRP was significantly associated in women, particularly minority women. Both play a role in CVD, highlighting potential causes for the increased risk of CVD in younger women.
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Journal of women's health · Jul 2020
Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Marital Status and the Development of Frailty: A Swedish Longitudinal Population-Based Study.
Background: The gender-specific role of marital status for the development of frailty has not been clarified. This study evaluates the gender differences in the association between marital status and frailty development, and the possible modifying effect by age cohort in such a relationship. Methods: The sample included 2179 community-dwelling older adults involved in the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, followed up for 6 years. Participants stable in marital status over time were categorized as partnered, widowed, single, and divorced. ⋯ The youngest women who remained divorced had a higher risk of frailty (OR = 2.75, 95% CI 1.24 - 6.08) than those who still had a partner. Conversely, older women who lost their partner had 80% (95% CI 0.05-0.86) lower odds of frailty than those with a partner. Conclusions: Marital status can influence frailty development differently for women and men. This gender-specific influence may vary by age cohort, perhaps in response to sociocultural factors.