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Update in Women's Health
- Jeane Ann Grisso, MD, MSc; and
- Roberta B. Ness, MD, MPH
- From University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Requests for Reprints: Roberta B. Ness, MD, MPH, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Current Author Addresses: Dr. Grisso: Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, 920 Blockley Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
In 1990, a report from the General Accounting Office highlighted the failure of many important studies to include women; partly in response to that report, the National Institutes of Health opened the Office of Women's Health Research. Since that time, women's health care has become a burgeoning field of medical study.
Although women's health is rapidly becoming part of the mainstream of medicine, this update focuses on important and provocative subjects: domestic violence, medical abortion, nutrition, hormonal therapy, the problems of elderly women, and issues of women in medical academic careers.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is now recognized as a major hazard to the health of women. Through both the medical literature and the mass media, Americans have become aware of the frequency with which women are abused.
As many as 4 million women in the United States are physically abused each year. Although it is known that medical services are often used after an episode of abuse, the characteristics of battered women who present to physicians have only recently been examined. One risk factor, household crowding, may account for the higher rates of violence seen among black Americans. Domestic violence, however, crosses racial lines.
The Characteristics of Battered Women Seen in Primary Care
McCauley J, Kern DE, Kolodner K, Dill L, Schroeder AF, DeChant HK, et al. The “battering syndrome”: prevalence and clinical characteristics of domestic violence in primary care internal medicine practices. Ann Intern Med. 1995; 123:737-46.
This study focused on the prevalence of and risk factors for domestic violence among women who were mostly white, middle-class, married, and medically insured.
Women visiting four primary care internal medicine practices in the Baltimore area were surveyed. Of the 3203 patients seen during the survey period, 2392 were recruited. A patient was considered to be a current victim of domestic violence if she answered “yes” to either of the following questions: …
