Women's health (London, England)最新文献

{"title":"Physical activity postpartum: A systematic review and quality appraisal of clinical guidelines.","authors":"Qianwen Lan, Allan Chak Lun Fu, Marnee J McKay, Milena Simic, Josielli Comachio, Ye Tian, Paulo Ferreira","doi":"10.1177/17455057261421734","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261421734","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Postpartum physical activity (PA) is crucial in supporting maternal health, contributing to mental health and well-being, weight management, and overall physical fitness. Although multiple health organizations have issued PA recommendations for postpartum women, the content and quality of these guidelines have not yet been systematically evaluated.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To evaluate the quality of published guidelines on PA for postpartum women and to summarize their recommendations to provide clearer guidance for healthcare providers and postpartum women.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.</p><p><strong>Data sources and methods: </strong>Six electronic databases were searched for guidelines related to PA for postpartum women. Gray literature was also reviewed. Guidelines were included if they were developed by recognized health organizations, provided PA (including structured supervised exercises) recommendations for postpartum women, and were published or updated within the last 10 years. Data extraction and quality appraisal were independently conducted by pairs of reviewers using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation Tool (AGREE II).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Eighteen guidelines were included, with AGREE II scores ranging from 50% to 92%. Seven guidelines (39%) met the criteria for satisfactory methodological quality. Most guidelines recommended that postpartum women engage in at least 150 min of moderate-intensity aerobic PA per week, while the 2025 Canadian guideline supports a minimum of 120 min based on meta-analytic evidence. Common recommendations included pelvic floor muscle training, strengthening exercises, and other exercises, with advice to seek healthcare guidance for women with special conditions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>There is a universal agreement across guidelines that postpartum women should aim for at least 120-150 min of moderate-intensity PA weekly. Future research should strengthen the evidence for specific types of PA, delivery mode considerations, and implementation strategies.</p><p><strong>Registration: </strong>International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews: PROSPERO (CRD42023447331).</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261421734"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12949317/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147313084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Women's empowerment measurements in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review.","authors":"Immanuel Shipanga, Opeoluwa Oyedele, Lawrence Kazembe","doi":"10.1177/17455057251401817","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057251401817","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Quantifying women's empowerment has gained prominence as a research focus globally. We conducted a systematic review of the literature examining the measurement of women's empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The objectives of the study is to describe quantitative measurements of women's empowerment based on individual-level data. We searched PubMed/Medline, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases, along with forward and backward citation tracking, for studies published between 2010 and 2025. The search yielded 1898 records, of which 98 studies met the inclusion criteria. All included studies were peer-reviewed, conducted either across multiple countries or within specific national contexts and analysed data from women of reproductive age. The review revealed considerable variations in the definition of women's empowerment indicators, the conceptualization of dimensions and a general lack of consensus regarding what specific indicators were intending to measure. This review offers a comprehensive synthesis of the existing quantitative evidence on women's empowerment measurement in SSA. Furthermore, the findings underscore that empowerment is inherently multidimensional, encompassing aspects such as women's decision-making, control over resources and autonomy in sexual and reproductive matters. Importantly, the selection of dimensions and indicators is often constrained by the availability of relevant data.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057251401817"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12924980/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146208388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The use of robotics in gynecology and reproductive medicine.","authors":"Panagiotis Peitsidis, Christos Iavazzo","doi":"10.1177/17455057251414919","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057251414919","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over the last several years, there has been a significant development in the utilization of robotics in gynecology and reproductive medicine. Robotic surgery offers several technical advantages over conventional laparoscopy, including stable and highly magnified 3D vision, enhanced hand-eye coordination, a surgeon-controlled field, optimized ergonomics, motion scaling, and physiological tremor filtering. Women's Health has solicited and published articles as part of a special collection aiming to focus on the current progress of robotics in gynecology and reproductive medicine. In this interesting and innovative issue, three articles were published: one editorial and two retrospective studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057251414919"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12924972/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146260383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Incidence of meningioma in women with a history of combined oral contraceptive pill use and polycystic ovary syndrome.","authors":"Emily Edwards, Kathryn Tsai, Suguna Pappu, Heidi Gaddey, Tyler B Nofzinger, Emily Vachon, Bryan McConomy","doi":"10.1177/17455057261421724","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261421724","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Meningiomas, benign central nervous system tumors, express progesterone and estrogen receptors. Their proliferation has been associated with hormonal and demographic factors, including female sex, obesity, and race. Prior studies on oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use and meningioma risk have been limited in their analysis of the modifying effects of race, obesity, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To assess the association between combined OCP use and meningioma development, and to assess how race, obesity, and PCOS influence this relationship.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Retrospective cohort study using aggregated electronic health record data in Epic Cosmos.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Women aged 13-50 from 2005 to 2023 with and without combined OCP use were identified. Patients with history of radiation, neurofibromatosis 2, progestin-only contraceptive use, and hormone replacement therapy were excluded. The cohort was then stratified by PCOS status, obesity, and race.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Combined OCP users saw a 40% lower risk of meningioma compared to non-users. PCOS was associated with a bidirectional effect on meningioma risk, modified by obesity. Among patients with obesity, those with PCOS had a 30% lower risk of developing meningioma compared to those without PCOS. Among non-obese patients, those with PCOS had a 108% greater risk of developing meningioma compared to those without PCOS. After adjusting for both PCOS and obesity, women with a history of combined OCP usage had 42% reduced odds of developing meningioma. When stratified by race, combined OCP use was associated with 47% decreased risk in White patients, 34% lower risk in Black patients, and 28% lower risk in Asian patients. Controlling for race overall, combined OCP use remained significantly protective, with 43% reduced odds of meningioma development.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings suggest a potential protective association between combined OCP use and meningioma that remained significant after controlling for obesity, PCOS status, and race. Additionally, this study found that meningioma risk in patients with PCOS differed based on obesity status.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261421724"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12917173/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146208244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From pain gaslighting to gender biases in women's accounts of hysteroscopy: A qualitative reflexive thematic analysis.","authors":"Susanne K Cromme, Richard Harrison, Katherine A Finlay","doi":"10.1177/17455057261440884","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261440884","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite being regarded as the gold standard, outpatient hysteroscopy (OPH) is associated with inconsistent outcomes and pain, while the clinical, organisational, and personal determinants shaping patient-centred experience remain poorly characterised.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to harness the authenticity and richness of naturally occurring online qualitative data to explore the clinical, organisational, and personal factors that shape women's hysteroscopy experiences, offering vital insights for service improvement.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>An in-depth qualitative investigation of hysteroscopy experiences, as shared by individuals on a publicly accessible online discussion forum.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Four thousand seven hundred sixty-nine posts across 277 discussion threads published between 2018 and 2024 were collected from Mumsnet.com, representing 1971 forum users discussing their personal hysteroscopy experiences. Posts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, informed by a constructivist epistemology and a latent, inductive analytic orientation, to capture both the depth and diversity of online contributions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Five themes captured women's specific hysteroscopy experiences: (1) Contingent Consent, (2) Unacknowledged Vulnerability, (3) Analgesia Roulette, (4) Gynaecological Pain Gaslighting, and (5) Gendered Pain Gap. These themes delineate a hysteroscopy pathway where consent is shaped by limited choices and misinformation, vulnerability is heightened by procedural exposure, pain relief is inconsistently applied, women's suffering is routinely dismissed, and gender biases reinforce unequal standards of care.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study identifies clinical blind-spots that contribute to perceptions of systemic neglect in women's gynaecological health care, evidenced by inconsistent pain management, inadequate consent, and gendered biases in OPH. These findings present an opportunity to inform structural reforms that advance equitable, patient-centred gynaecological care and improve clinical accountability.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261440884"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13110283/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147731008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Classifying Veterans' pre-pregnancy health risks using latent class analysis.","authors":"Deirdre A Quinn, Franya Hutchins, Florentina E Sileanu, Gregory T Procario, Maria K Mor, Ann-Marie Rosland, Jodie G Katon, Lisa S Callegari, Sonya Borrero","doi":"10.1177/17455057261430209","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261430209","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare have a high burden of pre-pregnancy chronic disease that likely contributes to the observed high rate of pregnancy-related morbidity. Many common diseases frequently co-occur; understanding patterns of multimorbidity may inform the design and delivery of pre-pregnancy interventions to lower pregnancy morbidity risk.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The current study sought to identify patterns of co-occurrence of pre-pregnancy chronic disease among Veterans.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>We conducted a retrospective cohort study using VA administrative data.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Our population included Veterans ages 18-45 with ⩾1 pregnancy outcome (ectopic, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and/or live birth) during fiscal years 2010-2019. Presence of common chronic diseases with implications for pregnancy was detected using encounter International <i>Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th Revision</i> (ICD-9 and ICD-10) codes in the 2 years prior to pregnancy. Patients were grouped based on latent class models of diagnosis patterns; two to seven latent groups were examined for model fit and clinical interpretability.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified 56,853 pregnancies from 41,034 Veterans. More than half of pregnancies were complicated by an array of pre-pregnancy medical and mental health conditions that may negatively impact pregnancy health and contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes. The most frequently occurring conditions included chronic pain (51.2% of pregnancies), depression (31.4%), anxiety (25.9%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (22.8%). A five-group model demonstrated the best balance between model fit and clinical interpretability. Groups included: \"Pain and Mental Health\" (28%), with high prevalence of chronic pain, depression, and anxiety; \"Pain and Metabolic\" (17%), high prevalence of chronic pain, obesity, and migraines; \"Substance Use and Mental Health\" (7%), high prevalence of alcohol use disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder; \"Low Diagnosis\" (43%), lower than average prevalence of diagnoses; and \"High Complexity\" (5%), high prevalence of conditions across multiple physiologic systems.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We identified five distinct, clinically meaningful groups of Veterans based on co-occurring pre-pregnancy diseases. Tailoring interventions to these groups may address Veterans' complex pre-pregnancy health risks effectively and efficiently.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261430209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13009854/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147476674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding cervical cancer screening among women in Damascus, Syria: A cross-sectional study.","authors":"Jamal Ataya, Batoul Alotaki, Kais Alhammadi, Toka Al Homsi, Waed Abboud, Hamsa Sahlieh, Sahar Alzhouri, Ahmad Al-Bitar, Maram Alshikh Hamo, Dimah Kakat, Bayan Alhaj, Lutfallah Raffoul, Saeed Kadri","doi":"10.1177/17455057261443140","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261443140","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cervical cancer remains one of the most preventable yet deadly diseases affecting women in low-resource and conflict-affected regions such as Syria. Persistent challenges including limited access to health care, disrupted health infrastructure, sociocultural taboos, and inadequate health education have severely restricted the implementation and uptake of screening programs. Understanding the multifaceted determinants of women's awareness, perceptions, and health-seeking behavior is essential for designing sustainable, context-sensitive prevention strategies.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate Syrian women's knowledge, attitudes, and screening practices toward cervical cancer and to identify demographic, educational, and psychosocial predictors influencing these domains. It also sought to explore the paradoxical role of education in shaping self-efficacy, awareness, and screening-related attitudes within this population.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data were collected between November 2024 and May 2025 in Damascus, Syria, using a validated self-administered electronic questionnaire. A total of 606 women aged 15 years and above participated voluntarily. The questionnaire assessed knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy related to cervical cancer and screening behaviors. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses were performed to examine associations between sociodemographic factors and outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Although 49% of respondents demonstrated moderate knowledge, only 10% had ever undergone a Pap smear. Major barriers included embarrassment (59%), fear of discomfort (51%), and financial limitations (21%). Higher education significantly predicted better knowledge (<i>p</i> < 0.05) but was paradoxically linked to less favorable attitudes and lower self-efficacy. Greater knowledge correlated positively with self-efficacy, while older age showed a negative association.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A profound disconnect persists between awareness and screening behavior among Syrian women. Interventions must extend beyond information delivery to address cultural, emotional, and economic barriers through comprehensive, community-based, and empowerment-oriented public health initiatives.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261443140"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13145018/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Post-stroke cognitive decline among women in midlife.","authors":"Molly Jacobs, Elizabeth Evans, Charles Ellis","doi":"10.1177/17455057261444148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057261444148","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Stroke is a significant risk factor for cognitive impairment. Women face a heightened risk due to their longer life expectancy and the greater prevalence of stroke-related disability.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To compare the trajectory of cognitive decline in women with and without a stroke diagnosis and assessed demographic differences.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>The study employed a longitudinal, observational cohort design.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation interviewed women in their 40s and 50s from seven U.S. cities approximately yearly to collect information on their physical, biological, psychological, and social health. Cognitive assessments were conducted between 2000 (Wave 4) and 2008 (Wave 10) that were designed to examine information processing speed, working memory, immediate memory, and delayed memory. Adjusting for baseline age, race/ethnicity, income, education, marital status, comorbidities, and insurance, generalized linear mixed models were used to compare cognitive decline between women who had experienced a stroke and those who had not.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 3302 women in the sample, age was 49.52 (SD = 2.64) years old at baseline and 53.74 (SD = 3.94) in the final wave. In Wave 4, only 0.67% (<i>N</i> = 22) reported having been diagnosed with a stroke, but 8.39% (<i>N</i> = 277) had been diagnosed by Wave 10. Compared to stroke-free women, the multivariable-adjusted changes in cognitive performance were -0.18 information processing, -0.09 working memory, -0.15 immediate memory, and -0.17 delayed memory. Compared to White women, Black women who suffered a stroke saw multivariable-adjusted annual changes in information processing, working memory, immediate memory, and delayed memory of -0.08, -0.03, -0.08, and -0.09, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings underscore the persistent impact of stroke on multiple cognitive domains in midlife women, with a more significant decline observed among Black women. Targeted prevention and rehabilitation efforts are needed to address both the cognitive consequences of stroke and the demographic differences in post-stroke outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261444148"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147824567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A comprehensive treatment algorithm for chronic pelvic pain patients: A perspective review and future guidelines.","authors":"Allyson Shrikhande, Jason Hall, Iris Orbuch, Arnold Advincula, Katherine Wolfrum, Sallie Sarrel, Jessica Drummond, Lolasri Rampally, Julia Gonzalez-Engle, Jasmine Ross, Gautam Shrikhande","doi":"10.1177/17455057261440214","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261440214","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chronic pelvic pain is one of the most prevalent syndromes in family medicine, gynecology, and urology. Chronic pelvic pain patients are often misdiagnosed and have unnecessary prolonged suffering. Both misdiagnosis and delay in treatment negatively impact the health and well-being of chronic pelvic pain patients while additionally creating an economic burden on healthcare systems. This review aims to combine current treatment guidelines for managing chronic pelvic pain into a comprehensive algorithm for healthcare providers, with a focus on early diagnosis and treatment. The algorithm encompasses pathophysiology, assessment, organ system dysfunction management, overlapping pain syndromes, integrative management, pharmacological management, non-operative multidisciplinary care, and surgical interventions for chronic pelvic pain. A review of medical literature using the keyword \"Chronic Pelvic Pain\" between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 2023, was conducted using the PubMed database. Four hundred three articles from the PubMed database were eligible for detailed review. Each publication was evaluated utilizing a grading system adapted from the framework established by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. For guideline development, a panel of experts specializing in pelvic pain determined how physicians can best optimize the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pelvic pain by integrating current treatment guidelines, best practice recommendations, and available data. The recommendations advocate for a multimodal approach to chronic pelvic pain treatment, emphasizing the importance of early disease recognition, coordinated care, and treatment protocols similar to those commonly employed for well-defined medical conditions such as asthma and diabetes.^1-5 This article introduces a comprehensive treatment algorithm designed to address the existing gaps in the management of patients suffering from chronic pelvic pain, as well as decrease the economic burden on the healthcare system that chronic pelvic pain currently places. The algorithm promotes a comprehensive multimodal approach to prevent the prolonged suffering that chronic pelvic pain patients currently must endure.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261440214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129337/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rural and urban disparities in postpartum glucose screening rates.","authors":"Lynn E Glenn, Thomas V Joshua, Samantha Brener, Neha Balachandran, Terri Marin","doi":"10.1177/17455057261443143","DOIUrl":"10.1177/17455057261443143","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although the overall rate of adherence to postpartum glucose screening is low (less than 50%), the geographical disparities, rural versus urban, in postpartum glucose screening rates for women with gestational diabetes are relatively unknown.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The purpose of this study was to compare postpartum glucose screening rates between women living in rural versus urban areas. Secondarily, this study evaluated the impact of transfer of maternity care on adherence to postpartum care and glucose screening rates in women with gestational diabetes mellitus.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Through retrospective chart review, data were collected from records with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes between January 2015 and October 2020.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Subjects were classified as urban or rural residents. The following data were collected: number of prenatal and postpartum care visits, number of prenatal and postpartum glucose testing, infant birthweight, maternal complications, and demographic data, including race, age, and insurance status.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our final sample consisted of 82 women classified as urban and 67 classified as rural. Overall, the number of postpartum glucose tests was lower in the rural group (<i>M</i> = 0.30), compared to the urban group (<i>M</i> = 0.52) and demonstrated statistically significant differences with Poisson regression (coefficient 0.56, Wald chi-square = 4.59, <i>p</i> = 0.03). Women from rural areas, who were referred and transferred maternity care to the Regional Perinatal Health Care Center, had the lowest average postpartum visits (<i>M</i> = 1.00) and postpartum glucose tests (<i>M</i> = 0.22) compared to the women from urban areas who were transferred from other providers with mean postpartum visits (<i>M</i> = 1.46) and mean postpartum glucose tests (<i>M</i> = 0.29).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Rural women received lower postpartum glucose screening than those residing in urban areas. This finding illustrates greater disparities among rural women seeking postpartum care. Larger prospective studies are warranted to examine contributing factors, such as continuity of care and the transition from postpartum care to primary care. The remaining significant need is for healthcare providers to facilitate preventive care following pregnancy, including timely glucose screening and detection of women at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, especially among rural populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":75327,"journal":{"name":"Women's health (London, England)","volume":"22 ","pages":"17455057261443143"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13129290/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}