Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
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Womens Health Issues · Jan 2007
Are alcohol problems linked with an increase in depressive symptoms in abused, inner-city African American women?
Little is known regarding the link between intimate partner violence (IPV), alcohol problems (AP), and depression in inner-city African American women. We sought to investigate whether abused inner-city African American women reporting AP endorsed more depressive symptoms compared to women reporting either AP or IPV or reporting neither. ⋯ Among inner-city, African American women, depressive symptoms are highest among those reporting both high IPV levels and AP. Health care systems serving similar communities should implement a systematic approach to identifying IPV, AP, and depression in patients.
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Womens Health Issues · Sep 2006
Comparative StudyLong-term costs of intimate partner violence in a sample of female HMO enrollees.
To compare costs associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) overall and for selected physical health problems in a non-poor, privately insured sample. ⋯ IPV elevates health care costs, not only among women currently experiencing abuse, but also among women for whom the abuse has ceased. Efforts to control health care costs should focus on early detection and prevention of IPV.
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Womens Health Issues · Jul 2006
ReviewMorbidity and mortality in pregnancy: laying the groundwork for safe motherhood.
The Safe Motherhood Initiative is a global effort to reduce deaths and illnesses among women and infants. Despite the relatively low maternal mortality rate in the United States, ensuring safe motherhood is still critical. For several reasons, it is important to study maternal mortality and morbidity. ⋯ Broadening the research focus and prevention efforts to include the study of maternal morbidity, especially near-miss morbidity-life-threatening morbidity-can strengthen the study of maternal death. This paper presents an overview of maternal mortality and morbidity including incidence and etiology, issues and challenges for measurement, and issues of preventability. We also address specific strategies for change for health care providers, federal and state health agencies, and the public health community.
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Womens Health Issues · Mar 2006
Gender differences across racial and ethnic groups in the quality of care for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure associated with comorbidities.
This paper provides important insights on gender differences across racial and ethnic groups in a Medicare population in terms of the quality of care received for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and congestive heart failure (CHF) in association with diabetes or hypertension/end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Both race/ethnicity and gender are associated with differences in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of Medicare recipients with these conditions. In the AMI group, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients of both genders were less likely to receive aspirin or beta-blockers than non-Hispanic Whites. ⋯ Gender comparisons in both the CHF and CHF-hypertension/ESRD groups show that non-Hispanic White women were less likely to have an LVF assessment than non-Hispanic White men. Among all subjects, having comorbidities with AMI was not associated with higher markers of quality cardiovascular care. Closing the many gaps in cardiovascular care must target the specific needs of women and men across racial and ethnic groups.