Mira L Katz, Abigail Shoben, Amie M Ashcraft, Emma Mitchell, Mark Dignan, Sarah Cooper, Mark Cromo, Jean Walunis, Deborah Flinner, Dannell Boatman, Lindsay Hauser, Mack T Ruffin, Paul L Reiter
{"title":"Results of a Human Papillomavirus Self-Collection Educational Intervention for Health Care Providers in Appalachia.","authors":"Mira L Katz, Abigail Shoben, Amie M Ashcraft, Emma Mitchell, Mark Dignan, Sarah Cooper, Mark Cromo, Jean Walunis, Deborah Flinner, Dannell Boatman, Lindsay Hauser, Mack T Ruffin, Paul L Reiter","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0121","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>There is an increasing interest in human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection as a strategy for women not up-to-date with cervical cancer screening. We report the findings of an HPV self-collection educational intervention for health care providers and staff.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>As part of the Health Outcomes through Motivation and Education (<i>HOME</i>) <i>Initiative</i>, health care providers from 10 health care systems in Appalachian regions of four states attended online sessions during 2021-2023. Participants (<i>n</i> = 167) completed pre- and postintervention surveys focused on knowledge and attitudes about HPV self-collection and cervical cancer screening. The postintervention survey also addressed satisfaction with the educational intervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants correctly answered an average of 4.6 out of 7 knowledge items on preintervention surveys and an average of 6.0 items on postintervention surveys (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Attitudes were more positive on postintervention surveys and included that participants reported that they were better informed about HPV self-collection and more confident they could talk to patients about HPV self-collection (both <i>p</i> < 0.05). Nearly all (>97%) participants reported being satisfied with the educational intervention and being pleased their health center was included in the <i>HOME Initiative</i>.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>An online educational intervention for health care providers and staff about HPV self-collection as a cervical cancer screening strategy was efficacious in improving knowledge and attitudes and was well-received by participants. Given its online delivery and that it can be completed individually or in a group setting, this educational intervention with minor adaptations has potential for wide dissemination to educate health care providers and staff about HPV self-collection.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"113-121"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11839525/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143485002","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":"Predicting Survival Outcomes for Patients with Ovarian Cancer Using National Cancer Registry Data from Taiwan: A Retrospective Cohort Study.","authors":"Amrita Chattopadhyay, Ya-Ting Wu, Han-Ching Chan, Yi-Ting Kang, Ying-Cheng Chiang, Chun-Ju Chiang, Wen-Chung Lee, Tzu-Pin Lu","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0166","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0166","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Ovarian cancer is one of the top seven causes of cancer deaths. Incidence of ovarian cancer varies by ethnicity, where Asian women demonstrate lower incidence rates than non-Hispanic Blacks and Whites. Survival prediction models for ovarian cancer have been developed for Caucasians and Black populations using national databases; however, whether these models work for Asians is unclear. Therefore, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to develop survival prediction models for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer from a Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR) who underwent de-bulking and chemotherapy, with the aim to identify variables that can predict prognosis accurately. Patients diagnosed with OC from TCR were included.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Two prognostic models (M1 and M2) were developed: M1 utilized clinical variables only, M2 additionally included cancer-specific variables with the aim to improve the accuracy. All methods were repeated independently for patients with only serous ovarian cancer. All findings for model M1 were validated among Black, White, and Asian populations from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database and 10-fold internal cross-validations. Due to absence of cancer-specific site variables in SEER, model M2 was only internally validated. Cox-proportional hazards regression analysis was performed and a stepwise strategy with Akaike-information criterion was used to select appropriate variables as predictors to develop both M1 and M2.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The c-index values of both models were >0.7 in both TCR and SEER populations for epithelial ovarian cancer. Calibration analysis demonstrated good prediction performance with the proportional difference between predicted and observed survival to be <5%. The performance was similar for the subset of patients with serous epithelial ovarian cancer. Notably, no significant racial differences were observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The prognostic models proposed in this study can potentially be used for identifying patients, especially from Taiwan, at higher risk of ovarian cancer mortality early on, leading to improved prognosis, through shared decision-making between physicians and patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"90-101"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773178/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070105","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":"Associations Between Blood Hemoglobin Concentrations and Cardiometabolic Risk in Middle-Aged Women.","authors":"Tazuko Tokugawa, Akihiro Sawada, Satoshi Higasa, Ichiro Wakabayashi","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0140","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0140","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Patients with polycythemia have a high risk of thrombo-atherosclerotic diseases. However, it remains to be clarified whether a high blood hemoglobin level is related to cardiometabolic risk in women.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The overall subjects were 18,410 middle-aged women who had received health checkup examinations at their workplaces. The subjects were divided into four groups of quartiles for hemoglobin levels. Cardiometabolic risk factors were compared in the four quartile groups. Individuals showing abnormally low hemoglobin levels (less than 11.0 g/dL) and/or having a history of therapy for anemia (<i>n</i> = 3,690) were excluded from the study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The prevalence of polycythemia (hemoglobin: higher than 16.0 g/dL) was 0.14%. Body mass index, waist-to-height ratio, blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and hemoglobin A<sub>1c</sub> were significantly higher in the highest quartile group of hemoglobin than in the lowest quartile group and tended to be higher with an increase of the quartile. Odds ratios of the highest versus lowest quartile groups of hemoglobin were 2.64 (2.25-3.10) for high LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio, 3.05 (2.69-3.46) for high lipid accumulation product, 2.26 (2.05-2.50) for high cardiometabolic index, and 3.71 (3.07-4.47) for metabolic syndrome.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although the prevalence of polycythemia was very low, cardiometabolic risk was higher in those showing relatively high hemoglobin levels than in those with lower levels. Therefore, normal high blood hemoglobin is suggestive of increased cardiovascular risk in middle-aged women.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"80-89"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773170/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143069951","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":"Acknowledgment of Reviewers 2024.","authors":"","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.32587.revack","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1089/whr.2024.32587.revack","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"78-79"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773163/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143069946","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}
Zsófia Kovács-Szabó, Alexandra Makai, Pongrác Ács, Márta Hock
{"title":"Validity and Reliability of the Hungarian Version of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire Among Women with Endometriosis and Chronic Pelvic Pain.","authors":"Zsófia Kovács-Szabó, Alexandra Makai, Pongrác Ács, Márta Hock","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0109","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0109","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Our study aimed to perform Hungarian cross-cultural adaptation and assess the reliability and validity of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) in women diagnosed with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The current study was conducted in Hungary among women aged 18-50 (34.39 ± 6.68 years). We examined the reliability of the Hungarian version of PSEQ (PSEQ-HU) by applying internal consistency and test-retest evaluations. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the construct validity of the PSEQ-HU, while Spearman's rank correlation coefficient established the convergent validity using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, numeric rating scale (NRS), Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale. To determine discriminant validity, two groups were created based on NRS (0-4 no or mild pain, 5-10 moderate or strong pain). The results were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 28.0 software with a significance level of <i>p</i> ≤0.05.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 262 women participated in this study. The Cronbach's α was 0.97, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values showed adequate reliability (ICC = 0.94. 95% confidence interval 0.88-0.97) for the PSEQ-HU. Based on the Spearman's correlation coefficients the convergent validity showed significant results (<i>r</i> = 0.22-0.63; <i>p</i> ≤0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We concluded that the PSEQ is a reliable and valid measurement among Hungarian women with endometriosis-related pelvic pain.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"69-77"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773173/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070129","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}
Taysir Laajili, Csaba Kató, Zsolt Gábor Szabó, Andrea Lukács
{"title":"Self-Esteem, Wellbeing, and Health Status of Female Athletes in the Context of Sport Performance.","authors":"Taysir Laajili, Csaba Kató, Zsolt Gábor Szabó, Andrea Lukács","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0119","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0119","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Competing at a high level is challenging for athletes, both mentally and physically. Intense sport engagement is not always beneficial for health. This study investigates and compares self-esteem, wellbeing, and health status among athletes at different levels. In addition, it examines whether the type of sport (individual versus team) affects the self-esteem and wellbeing.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A quantitative, observational survey was conducted, involving 296 female participants aged 18-35 years divided into three groups based on their sport performance: high-performance athletes (41%), recreational athletes (27%), and individuals with no or lower levels of physical activity (32%). The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale were used to measure self-esteem, wellbeing, and health status, respectively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>High-performance athletes exhibited significantly higher self-esteem, wellbeing, and health status compared with individuals with no or lower levels of physical activity. Recreational athletes showed better wellbeing than individuals with no or lower levels of physical activity and had no significant differences from high-performance athletes in any parameter. Results were not affected by whether the sport was individual or team-based.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings highlight that regular sport participation, whether at a recreational or high-performance level, provides substantial mental and physical health benefits, while individuals with no or lower levels of physical activity experience significantly lower levels of self-esteem, subjective wellbeing, and health. The findings of this study suggest that regular sport activity, regardless of competitive level, provides substantial benefits, underscoring the importance of maintaining a physically active lifestyle.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"43-49"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773174/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070109","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}
Josep Perelló-Capo, Ángeles Blanco Molina, Javier Trujillo Santos, María López Menéndez Arqueros, Esther de la Viuda, Borja Otero García-Ramos, Dolores Pérez Jaraíz, Luis Ignacio Devesa Otero
{"title":"Anamnesis Checklist for Informed Oral Contraceptive Choices: A Spanish Perspective.","authors":"Josep Perelló-Capo, Ángeles Blanco Molina, Javier Trujillo Santos, María López Menéndez Arqueros, Esther de la Viuda, Borja Otero García-Ramos, Dolores Pérez Jaraíz, Luis Ignacio Devesa Otero","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0073","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0073","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to develop an anamnesis checklist for oral contraceptive (OC) choice focused on their safety profile and associated risk factors.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>This study involved eight health care professionals in Spain, including six gynecologists and two internists, selected for their expertise in contraception counseling. We employed the design-thinking process, structured in five phases: empathizing with patients' needs, defining key areas of impact, devising innovative solutions, prototyping ideas into testable proposals, and validating prototypes. This process involved an analysis of the available literature, online discussions, and an online survey to evaluate importance and frequency of variables in anamnesis. Medians were computed for each variable, and the study group collaboratively determined the variables to include in the anamnesis checklist.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Women must be informed about contraceptive options, according to health care professionals. Body mass index, smoking status, blood pressure, and personal history were identified and prioritized as variables to consider during OC counseling. Participants emphasized the need to individualize the treatment, highlightling the safety profile of progestin-only pills over OCs due to the lack of increased venous thromboembolism risk.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The study emphasizes the importance of an anamnesis prior to prescribing an oral hormonal contraceptive, as well as the most relevant risk factors that should be analyzed. A checklist was developed to facilitate safe OC prescribing.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"50-59"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143069938","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":"Enhancing Perinatal Safety with the Advancement of Obstetric Anesthesia in Japan.","authors":"Reiko Ohara","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0154","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0154","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Japan is one of the most developed countries in the world, and perinatal care is safe, with low maternal and neonatal mortality rates. However, as birthrate declines, advanced maternal age and the number of cesarean deliveries increases, efforts must be made to maintain safety in the future. The characteristic of the delivery facilities is \"many small clinics,\" and half of all facilities have fewer than 500 deliveries per year. Such clinics rarely have full-time anesthesiologists; therefore, anesthetic management, including cesarean deliveries and labor analgesia, is left to obstetricians' efforts. Furthermore, the prevalence of labor analgesia is very low compared with that in developed countries. In 2017, maternal deaths during labor analgesia were reported and became a social problem. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) appointed a research group to conduct a study on labor analgesia and issued recommendations for a safe delivery system in 2018. Even when recommendations are understood, changing the size and staffing of medical facilities is challenging, and the field needs specific interventions such as education and information sharing. Most maternal deaths related to anesthesia are preventable. Within the existing medical environment, a distinctive anesthetic management system is crucial to improve the safety of perinatal care, and cooperation among obstetricians, anesthesiologists, nurses, and midwives involved in perinatal care through education and management is essential. We review past perinatal safety initiatives in Japan and discuss the need to make obstetric anesthesia safer as future risks increase.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"60-68"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773171/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143069967","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}
Kimberly Bloom-Feshbach, Vasilia Vasiliou, Lance D Laird, Janet T Civian, Linda H Pololi
{"title":"Pandemic Impact on Research Faculty in Academic Medicine: A Mixed Method Study.","authors":"Kimberly Bloom-Feshbach, Vasilia Vasiliou, Lance D Laird, Janet T Civian, Linda H Pololi","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0091","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>This mixed-method study sought to elucidate the impact of COVID-19 on the professional environments and career trajectories of midcareer research faculty in U.S. medical schools.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants were 40 midcareer medical school faculty enrolled in the Brandeis University C-Change Mentoring and Leadership Institute, a group peer mentoring career development course being tested in a National Institutes of Health-funded randomized controlled trial.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We observed a gender disparity in both the quantitative and qualitative data, with women faculty describing COVID-19 more negatively impacting their career trajectory. This negative impact was independent of having children in the home. Participants largely reported no change in their commitment to conducting research or interest in applying for research funding. A total of 54% of faculty reported no effect of the pandemic on their relationships with colleagues (<i>n</i> = 21) and 33% reported a negative effect (<i>n</i> = 13). A trend emerged when examining the data by degree, however, with PhD faculty about twice as likely as physicians to report a negative effect of the pandemic on their relationship with colleagues (47% <i>n</i> = 9 vs. 20% <i>n</i> = 4, respectively). The ordinal test on the 5-point scale approached statistical significance but did not meet the standard 0.05 cut-off (<i>p</i> value = 0.06; Z-value = -1.86).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>While faculty initially reported some positive outcomes of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in their own experiences in April 2020, their experiences 1 year later reflected negative impacts of the pandemic on career trajectory, especially for women, and on relationships with colleagues, with a higher intensity signal for PhD scientists.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"21-28"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11772992/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070104","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}
Andrea Lopez-Ruiz, Lopa Misra, Lindsey Lamb, Julia Files, Sonal Haerter, Lisa Marks, Neera Agrwal
{"title":"Presenting Your Best Self: How Physician Appearance Influences Patient Perceptions and Impacts Women in Medicine.","authors":"Andrea Lopez-Ruiz, Lopa Misra, Lindsey Lamb, Julia Files, Sonal Haerter, Lisa Marks, Neera Agrwal","doi":"10.1089/whr.2024.0087","DOIUrl":"10.1089/whr.2024.0087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Trust and rapport between patients and physicians form the cornerstone of effective medical practice. A key factor influencing this trust is the patient's perception of the physician's appearance. Women physicians often face more rigorous expectations concerning their physical appearance compared to men physicians, creating a need to balance traditional professional attire with maintaining femininity and individuality. This review explores the unique challenges women physicians encounter in presenting a professional image.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A narrative review was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar to identify studies addressing both patient and physician perceptions of physician appearance. The search was limited to studies conducted in the United States and published between 2004 and 2024. Seven articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The findings suggest that professional attire, particularly when combined with a white coat, is associated with higher perceptions of competence and professionalism. However, women physicians face ambiguity in meeting these expectations compared with men. In addition, women are more frequently mistaken for nurses, phlebotomists, or support staff based on their attire and appearance.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Overall, patients tend to prefer professional attire to physicians, but these preferences are influenced by cultural, demographic, and age-related factors. Women physicians, in particular, experience heightened scrutiny regarding their appearance and are subject to stricter norms than men physicians. This challenge is further amplified for young women trainees, who may struggle to convey professionalism due to their youthful appearance.</p>","PeriodicalId":75329,"journal":{"name":"Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.)","volume":"6 1","pages":"29-36"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11773169/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070107","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}