Women’s Health Bulletin
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Apr 2015

The increased maternal age is associated with many prenatal and perinatal complications including stillbirth, preterm birth and cesarean delivery.. This study was carried out to investigate the prenatal and maternal outcomes among mothers older and younger than 35 in Fars province, Iran..Patients and This study included 1962 singleton deliveries. The prenatal and neonatal outcomes were recorded retrospectively and compared between mothers aged older and younger than 35 years. A designed questionnaire was used for data collection of parity, gravida (gravidity and parity are two terms that refer to the number of times a female has been pregnant and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age), outcomes of the pregnancy, labor, and neonatal outcome. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 15, and the P < 0.05 was considered significant.. The mean age of 978 mothers < 35 years-old and 984 of those aged ≥ 35 years was 31.6 ± 6.8 years. Mothers aged ≥ 35 years experienced higher risk of preeclampsia (P < 0.001), gestational diabetes mellitus (P < 0.001), placental abruption (P = 0.003), cesarean delivery (P < 0.001), low Apgar at 1 minute (P = 0.001) and low Apgar at 5 minutes (P = 0.001) compared to those aged less than 35 years.. Women should be alerted by the higher risks for prenatal and maternal morbidity associated with delayed pregnancy. Health care providers should be aware of the impact of delayed childbearing on the health care resources..

Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific achievement. Past studies have shown probable increases in self-efficacy with growing age. Iranian women with breast cancer are one decade younger than their western counterparts.. The present study aims to investigate the level of cancer-related self-efficacy in Iranian women, and its demographic and medical predictors..Patients and This is a descriptive cross-sectional study comprised of 91 breast cancer patients referring for chemotherapy to one of the largest oncology centers in northwest of Iran. The patients’ demographic and medical characteristics were determined and their cancer related self-efficacy was assessed using cancer behavior inventory containing 33 items. Data analysis was completed using SPSS software version 13. Descriptive and Regression analysis were used to describe demographic and medical characteristics of the patients and their predictors of cancer-related self-efficacy.. The sustained cancer-related positive attitude had, in total, the highest mean score of 7 subscales of cancer behavior inventory and the seeking of social support had the least mean score. Only Patient’s education and the time of cancer diagnosis were associated with self-efficacy of Iranian women in relation to cancer.. According to the results obtained, it is necessary to consider the level of education, social support, and the time of cancer diagnosis in order to assess the self-efficacy in Iranian women with breast cancer..

The number of cigarette smokers in people of all ages and the resulting second hand smokers are increasing worldwide. Smoking at home, work or in public places puts others at risk of exposure to second hand smoke.. To study the effects of second-hand smoking on breast milk proteins..Patients and This cohort study was conducted on 45 mothers exposed to second-hand smoke (cases) and 45 non-exposed post-partum mothers (controls) who attended health care centers. Milk samples were collected twice, (5-7 days and 4 months after delivery). Exposure was assessed through questionnaires which measured total levels of milk protein and albumin, and milk cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine.. Cotinine levels in the breast milk of mothers in the exposed group were significantly higher than non-exposed group at baseline and 4 months after delivery (P = 0.001). Milk protein profiles in the non-exposed group were significantly higher 5-7 days after delivery in the non-exposed group, but the albumin profile was not significantly different at 4 months post-partum (P = 0.004).. Second-hand smoke affects the levels of breast milk proteins that are essential for infant growth..

Nowadays infertility issue has become a social concern and is associated with numerous social and psychological problems. Infertility can influence interpersonal, marital and social relationships.. The aim of this study was to determine the type of coping strategies regarding stress and the level of marital satisfaction in infertile women associated with their infertility factors and to obtain the relationship between these two variables.. The sample group included 50 women with female infertility factor and 50 women with male infertility factor. The participants contacted upon their treatment course with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in Mehr infertility clinic, Tehran, Iran. Enrich marital satisfaction questionnaire and standard scale for measuring coping strategies were used during this study.. Data analysis showed that coping strategies and marital satisfaction were different in the two groups of participants based on their infertility factors. The women with female infertility factor used more «emotion- focused» and «less useful coping strategies» than the women with male infertility factor (P < 0. 001). The women with male infertility factor had significantly more marital satisfaction than their infertile counterparts (P = 0. 019).. The results provided useful evidence about the types of coping strategies in infertile women. Also considering infertility factor, a significant relationship was found between the type of coping strategies and marital satisfaction in infertile couples..

Context: This article discusses the paradigm shift in health care and bioethics from the concept of informed consent to informed choice..Evidence Acquisition: Informed consent is linked to the concept of respect for autonomy-one of the four pillars of bioethics. This concept requires health care givers to share information with patients so they can make appropriate health care decisions. However, the concept of informed consent has been critiqued as being paternalistic and not attentive to the complexities of modern health care decisions.. As a result of a paradigm shift in health care and ethics, favoring autonomy over other principles-informed consent evolved to the more patient-centered concept of informed choice. Even so, feminist bioethicists critique the mainstream model of informed choice as being inattentive to inherent power dynamics within health care and society which may influence decision making. Drawing on the model of midwifery in Canada, this paper outlines an approach to health care that incorporates feminist definitions of informed choice.. This paper reviews the necessary criteria for informed choice to be attentive to the individual needs of women. Using the model of midwifery in Canada as an example, this paper demonstrates how feminist approaches to informed choice should be preferred in modern health care settings..