Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
Women's Information Needs and Educational Preferences Regarding Lung Cancer Screening.
Background: Physicians are less likely to discuss lung cancer screening (LCS) with women, and women have lower awareness of LCS availability. The objective of this qualitative study was to determine information needs, patient-provider communication barriers, and preferences for LCS education among women. Materials and Methods: Eight semistructured qualitative focus groups were conducted with 28 self-identified women meeting LCS eligibility criteria. ⋯ Preferred content focused on: (1) Benefits of early detection; (2) Lung cancer definition, statistics, and risk factors; (3) Benefits of quitting smoking; (4) Demonstration or explanation of how LCS is done; and (5) Availability of other tests and potential harms of screening. Conclusion: Women in our study had limited awareness of LCS and their eligibility and wanted recommendation and support for LCS from their health care providers. We identified addressable information needs about lung cancer and the screening process that can be used to improve LCS uptake in women and shared decision-making processes.
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Background: Women Veterans with epilepsy (WVE) may have unique psychiatric comorbidities that affect presentation, treatment, and outcomes. This large, nationally representative study of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients explores sex differences in psychiatric diagnoses and treatment to better characterize WVE. Methods: This study included a retrospective cohort design utilizing VHA Corporate Data Warehouse administrative data. ⋯ Discussion: Veterans with epilepsy represent a unique group with high rates of psychiatric comorbidity. These results suggest that among Veterans, men and women with epilepsy have differing psychiatric comorbidities, leading to disparate health care needs. Based on this study's findings, WVE may require a different approach to care with an increased focus on specialized psychiatric treatment for WVE.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
Immune Dysregulation, Inflammation in Characterizing Women with Vulvodynia, Depression, and Both.
Background: Depression and vulvodynia are often comorbid. The onset of depression and vulvodynia may be immune and/or stress/environmentally induced. We explored whether vulvodynia, depression, or both occur in response to a Th1-mediated versus Th2-mediated immune response. ⋯ Women with Th2 inflammation had similar odds of depression (aOR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.05-4.77) and vulvodynia (aOR = 2.56, 95% CI: 1.20-5.49). Women with Th1 or Th2 inflammation had similar odds of comorbid depression and vulvodynia (aOR = 3.03, 95% CI: 1.48-6.19; aOR = 3.14, 95% CI: 1.49-6.60, respectively). Conclusions: Our results suggest that an imbalance of cytokines, indicated by the presence of one or more immune-related health conditions, is associated with an increased risk of vulvodynia and/or depression.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
Resilience Amid Chaos: Abortion Provision Across the United States During COVID-19.
Background: Pregnant people face many challenges to obtaining abortion services, including cost, stigma, administrative requirements, and legislative barriers. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic added additional barriers for clients and abortion service providers to overcome. Methods: The current study uses the Family Planning Visits During COVID-19 longitudinal dataset to explore abortion service provision from April 2020 through November 2020 from a sample of clinics (N = 63) providing abortion services across the United States. ⋯ Although the volume of overall abortion service provision decreased March through July 2020, the volume returned to pre-COVID numbers by August and surpassed pre-COVID volume in September and October 2020. Conclusion: Findings from this study demonstrate the adaptability and resilience shown by providers to ensure the continued availability of abortion services. Strategies adopted during COVID-19, such as telehealth and mail-delivery of abortion medication, may prove useful in a post-Roe legislative landscape.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
The Impact of Intrauterine Manipulators on Outcome and Recurrence Patterns of Endometrial Cancer Patients Undergoing Minimally Invasive Surgery.
Objective: To evaluate the use of manipulators on the outcome of women who had minimally invasive surgery for endometrial cancer. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients operated with or without an intrauterine manipulator. Results: Six hundred ninety-nine patients were included. ⋯ Subgroup analysis of low-risk patients who did not receive adjuvant treatment showed higher recurrence rate (8.3% vs. 3%; p = 0.023) and worse disease-free survival (p = 0.01) for the manipulator group. After controlling for other variables, the use of a manipulator did not affect the risk of recurrence for the whole cohort (hazard ratio [HR], 1.28; confidence interval [95% CI], 0.7-2.1, p = 0.3) and for the low-risk subgroup of patients who did not receive adjuvant treatment (HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 0.8-7, p = 0.08). Conclusion: The use of a manipulator increases the risk of positive cytology as well as vaginal vault recurrences, but it does not reduce the overall survival of patients.