Browsing by keyword "women's health"
Now showing items 1-8 of 8
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Frequency of Private Spiritual Activity and Cardiovascular Risk in Post-menopausal Women: The Women's Health InitiativePurpose: Spirituality has been associated with better cardiac autonomic balance, but its association with cardiovascular risk is not well studied. We examined whether more frequent private spiritual activity was associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Methods: Frequency of private spiritual activity (prayer, Bible reading, and meditation) was selfreported at year 5 of follow-up. Cardiovascular outcomes were centrally adjudicated, and cardiovascular risk was estimated from proportional hazards models. Results: Final models included 43,708 women (mean age: 68.9±7.3; median follow-up: 7.0 years) free of cardiac disease through year 5 of follow-up. In age-adjusted models private spiritual activity was associated with increased cardiovascular risk (HR: 1.16; CI 1.02, 1.31, weekly vs. never; 1.25; CI 1.11, 1.40, daily vs. never). In multivariate models adjusted for demographics, lifestyle, risk factors, and psychosocial factors, such association remained significant only in the group with daily activity (HR 1.16; CI: 1.03, 1.30). Subgroup analyses indicate this association may be driven by the presence of severe chronic diseases. Conclusion: In aging women, higher frequency of private spiritual activity was associated with increased cardiovascular risk, likely reflecting a mobilization of spiritual resources in order to cope with aging and illness.
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History of Periodontitis Diagnosis and Edentulism as Predictors of Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, and Mortality in Postmenopausal WomenBACKGROUND: Few studies have reported associations between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in older women, which is the objective of the present investigation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants were 57 001 postmenopausal women ages 55 to 89 years (mean 68 years; > 85% 60 and older) who were enrolled (1993-1998) in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, and were without known CVD when history of periodontitis and edentulism was assessed by questionnaire at study Year-5 (1998-2003). There were 3589 incident CVD events and 3816 total deaths during a mean follow-up of 6.7 years. In multivariable analysis, periodontitis was not associated with CVD events, but was associated with higher total mortality (hazard ratio (HR)=1.12, 95% CI: 1.05-1.21). Edentulism was associated with higher age- and smoking-adjusted risks of CVD (HR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.27-1.59) and mortality (HR=1.47, 95% CI: 1.32-1.63). Further adjustment eliminated the association with CVD, but mortality remained significantly increased (HR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.02-1.33). Stratification on age, race-ethnicity, smoking, and diabetes mellitus yielded comparable results; however, edentulism was more strongly associated with CVD in women reporting > /=1 dental visit (HR=1.57) compared with (HR 1.03, interaction P=0.004) annually. CONCLUSIONS: In community-dwelling older women, edentulism was associated with increased risks of CVD and total mortality, and presence of periodontitis, which is more prevalent than edentulism, was associated with 17% higher mortality rate. These findings suggest that improving periodontal condition of the general population could reduce overall mortality.
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Making Women's Health Connections: Between Researchers and to ResourcesThe Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has recently completed the second year of a National Library of Medicine grant funded project; the Women’s Health Resources Dissemination Outreach Project. The goals include assisting women’s health researchers by providing them with access to information and making them more aware of opportunities and available resources. This, ultimately, enables both an improvement in women’s health and the advancement of women in academic medicine. Moreover, by supporting women’s health research and women researchers through the objectives of this project, women researchers build connections, knowledge, and skills. This facilitates meaningful contributions and fosters greater promotion and leadership opportunities for these women. This poster describes the goals, activities, and progress of the project through the completion of the second year. Specific programs and initiatives are highlighted. This includes the multi-year endeavor to build, recruit, and showcase women’s health researchers in a specific collection of eScholarship@UMMS, the library’s institutional repository. Promotion and outreach, of both the project and the resources, was major component of the second year. Additionally, programming was developed that helped researchers better communicate their work to the media and public. Other programs, lessons learned, successes, and future goals are noted.
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Moving on to strengthsIT CAN NO LONGER BE in doubt: a quarter of the women who physicians see every day have had some experience of sexual abuse, and fully a third have sustained physical abuse. The article by Sansone et al in this issue of the ARCHIVES confirms the commonality of past abuse experiences among middle-class women in the health maintenance organization setting. Their finding of a 25.8% rate of prior sexual abuse among women seeking Papanicolaou tests at a health maintenance organization in Tulsa, Okla, is comparable to the frequency of prior sexual abuse among women seen in family practice settings across the country. Without statistically validated instruments, the Tulsa data are not strictly comparable with other research; nevertheless, their results are consistent with the rate of prior sexual abuse of 22.1% that was found among women attending a rural clinic in Wisconsin and of 26.0% at a Michigan family . .
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Multiple Healthful Dietary Patterns and Type 2 Diabetes in the Women's Health InitiativeThe relationship between various diet quality indices and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains unsettled. We compared associations of 4 diet quality indices--the Alternate Mediterranean Diet Index, Healthy Eating Index 2010, Alternate Healthy Eating Index 2010, and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Index--with reported T2D in the Women's Health Initiative, overall, by race/ethnicity, and with/without adjustment for overweight/obesity at enrollment (a potential mediator). This cohort (n = 101,504) included postmenopausal women without T2D who completed a baseline food frequency questionnaire from which the 4 diet quality index scores were derived. Higher scores on the indices indicated a better diet. Cox regression was used to estimate multivariate hazard ratios for T2D. Pearson coefficients for correlation among the indices ranged from 0.55 to 0.74. Follow-up took place from 1993 to 2013. During a median 15 years of follow-up, 10,815 incident cases of T2D occurred. For each diet quality index, a 1-standard-deviation higher score was associated with 10%-14% lower T2D risk (P < 0.001). Adjusting for overweight/obesity at enrollment attenuated but did not eliminate associations to 5%-10% lower risk per 1-standard-deviation higher score (P < 0.001). For all 4 dietary indices examined, higher scores were inversely associated with T2D overall and across racial/ethnic groups. Multiple forms of a healthful diet were inversely associated with T2D in these postmenopausal women.
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Prevalence of painful musculoskeletal conditions in female and male veterans in 7 years after return from deployment in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi FreedomBACKGROUND: We sought to describe sex differences in the prevalence of painful musculoskeletal conditions in men and women Veterans after deployment in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) (OEF-OIF). METHODS: This is an observational study using Veterans Affairs (VA) administrative and clinical databases of OEF-OIF Veterans who had enrolled in and used VA care. The prevalence of back problems, musculoskeletal conditions, and joint disorders was determined at years 1 through 7 after deployment for female and male Veterans using ICD-9 code groupings for these conditions. RESULTS: Female Veterans were younger (mean age 29 vs. 30, P
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Racial Differences in Nontraditional Risk Factors Associated with Cardiovascular Conditions in Pregnancy Among U.S. Women VeteransBackground: Pregnancy-related cardiovascular (CV) conditions are important predictors of future cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nontraditional factors, such as depression and chronic stress, have been associated with CVD, but their role in pregnancy-related CVD conditions (pCVD) remains unknown. To determine the association between nontraditional factors and CV conditions in pregnancy, and to explore if this risk varies by race. Methods: Using data from a prospective study of pregnant women within the veterans affairs health system (COMFORT study), we described the prevalence of nontraditional factors (e.g., depression, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], chronic stress) and used logistic regression to determine the association between nontraditional factors and pregnancy-related CV conditions (pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestation diabetes, or preterm delivery). Analyses were then stratified by race. Results: Among 706 enrollees, 26% had pregnancy-related CV conditions. These women had significantly higher rates of depression (62% vs. 45%, p < 0.01), anxiety (50% vs. 37%, p = 0.01), PTSD (44% vs. 29%, p < 0.01), and high stress levels before pregnancy (22% vs. 16%, p = 0.05) compared with women with normal pregnancies. Overall, these factors were not associated with increased adjusted odds of pCVD. Overall, Black women had disproportionately higher rates of prepregnancy hypertension compared with White women (22% vs. 6%, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Women Veterans with pCVD are a high-risk group for future CVD, with disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and chronic stress. Racial disparities exist in pregnancy-related CV risk factors, which may further compound existing racial disparities in CVD among women Veterans.
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Women’s health must be a criminal justice concernOne of the most compelling arguments for improvements to healthcare for individuals who are incarcerated is the fact that “[a]t least 95% of all state prisoners will be released…”1 Further, pursuant to a 2014 study by the Sentencing Project, more than 215,332 women and girls are now incarcerated in the U.S.2 This figure represents both a record percentage of the total prison population in the U.S. and an eight-fold rise in the incarceration of females since 1980.3 Critically, more than two thirds of these women are mothers and 60% of these women have a minor child.4 Based on these figures, it is clear that women’s health is not only a community health concern, but a criminal justice concern.
