Menopause and Big Pharma

This New York Times article highlights the company Pfizer, who recently absorbed the drug company Wyeth, now plans to appeal product-liability cases concerning their menopausal drugs that Wyeth lost. Many of the people who have sued Wyeth have claimed that their menopausal drugs have caused breast cancer and other health problems. The article also discusses conflicting viewpoints and research about hormone therapy in general.

The Effect of the New Breast Cancer Guidelines on Black Women

This NPR story takes a look at how the new breast cancer screening recommendations will affect black women. As opposed to their white counterparts, black women have lower breast cancer rates overall but get the disease more often before the age of 40 and often have worse outcomes.

The transcript and the audio for the story can be found here.

An Overview of Recent Recommendations on Breast Cancer Screening

Good piece that aired on NPR's Weekend Edition discusses the conflicting recommendations that were recently published. Read the transcript or listen to the broadcast here.

Family Planning Clinics in Minnesota

Below is a list of family planning clinics throughout Minnesota:

Outlook Clinics

Family Tree Clinic

Planned Parenthood Clinics

Annex Teen Clinic

New Study examines Racial Gap in Infant Mortality Rate

In Dane County, Wis., 21 black women's lives and pregnancies are being examined to try to explain why the significantly higher incidence in infant deaths among black women as compared to their white counterparts.

Read the New York Times article about the study here

When to get screened for Breast Cancer

There has been a lot of debate recently about the health screening issue and misinterpretations of guidelines and recommendations put out by organizations like the American Cancer Society and the United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF). Today, in the New York Times health section Gina Kolata sorts through these guidelines and highlights the brand new recommendations out today by the USPSTF in her article "In Reversal, U.S. Urges Mammograms at 50, not 40."

Breast Feed to Lose Weight?

Weight loss has been a long-suspected "benefit" that goes along with breast-feeding and has recently re-gained some attention thanks to celebrity moms citing breast feeding as one of the ways they've gotten back down to that size 2 after giving birth. However, recent epidemiological studies have found mixed results. This article summarizes some of these studies and cites a few other pros and cons of breast feeding.

Lingering Pain for Breast Cancer Surgery Patients

A recent Danish study of 3,253 women found that even two years after surgery, over half of them reported some form of discomfort and also almost half of the patients reported chronic pain. The study, done in the form of a questionnaire, found that patients that were most likely to report pain or discomfort were under 40 years old, had undergone radiation treatment, and those who had a specific form of more invasive surgery than a biopsy.

An Assessment of Women's Health

On Monday, the New York Times reported on a study completed by the World Health Organization (W.H.O) that after assessing women's health found that H.I.V. is the "leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44." The W.H.O. cites unprotected sex as the greatest risk factor.

Home Fetal Heart Rate Monitors

Tara Parker Pope writes in her "Well" blog about a recent commentary at BMJ.com by two physicians warning of the risks associated with using home fetal heart rate monitors. Their warning included the story of a 34-year-old woman who used one of these heart rate monitors after having concern that she hadn't felt her baby move in awhile. When using the heart rate monitor, she believed to have heard the baby's heartbeat and did not seek medical attention right away. Once she did visit her physician, it was discovered that her baby had died. The physicians stress that they aren't recommending that people not use these heart rate monitors, rather be informed about them and not to use them in place of seeking medical advice.

Health Reform and Abortion

Late last night, the health care reform bill narrowly passed the House 220-215. One last-minute amendment that challenged many democrats' votes focused on "barring any insurance plan that is purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions." While this amendment made it easier for some to vote to pass the bill, it made others re-think their decision to vote in favor of a bill that included an amendment they feel will restrict women's rights.

Read the NY Times article here

Premature Births in America

Today on MPR's Midmorning there was a really interesting discussion regarding the high rate of infant mortality in the United States, especially compared to other industrialized countries.

The guests and callers discussed various factors that seem to contribute to premature births. They also discussed other factors that can lead to better births and outcomes.

Read more and listen to the broadcast here.

Too Many Pap Smears?

To add to the hot topic of "unnecessary care" in the health care reform debate, a new survey of 1,212 primary care physicians has found that there are many doctors performing unnecessary Pap smears.

In this New York Times article about the survey, they point out that while there are guidelines set forth about the recommended number of Pap smears women should get for cervical cancer screening, many doctors are not adhering to these guidelines.

Pros and Cons of Birth Control

This New York Times article does a great job of weighing the health benefits and risks of using birth control.

Minnesota Family Planning Program

You might be eligible for the Minnesota Family Planning Program. The Minnesota Family Planning Program (MFPP) is for Minnesota residents who are between the ages of 15 and 50 who meet certain income requirements and are not currently pregnant. Read more about eligibility, how to apply and other program details here.

Pregnant women and the H1N1 Vaccine

This article in the USA Today featured a woman, pregnant with her sixth child, who not only volunteered for the H1N1 flu vaccine trial, she also volunteered four of her children for a trial as well.

However, not all pregnant women were as eager to volunteer for the trials, and not all pregnant women are enthusiastic about getting the vaccine itself, although their population has been hit especially hard with H1N1. This New York Times article tells the story of a woman who contracted H1N1 while pregnant and spent four months in the hospital, lost her baby and is lucky to be alive.