Past-users of HRT are osteopenic four months after discontinuation:an observational and cross-sectional study

Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) helps to prevent osteoporosis. The effect of short-term discontinuation of a long-term HRT on bone mineral density (BMD) in healthy post-menopausal women is unknown. Fifteen women on HRT (HRT users), 17 who never used HRT (non-users) and 8 former HRT users (past-HRT users) were recruited. BMD was measured by DXA. Our results allow to hypothesize that BMD may decline after short-term HRT discontinuation, which would increase the fracture risks. Indeed, our results show that past-HRT users are osteopenic just as non-users. However, these results should be re-examined using a prospective trial and a larger sample size.     

Osteoporosis and Older Women:

Osteoporosis, a metabolic bone disorder, affects four times as many women as men. Each year 1.3 million fractures, primarily of the vertebra, hip, and wrist can be attributed to osteoporosis. Risk factors for the development of this disease include age, sex, body build, family history, race, loss of estrogen, calcium deficiency, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and the excessive use of alcohol. Three common approaches used in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis are hormone replacement therapies, nutrition interventions. and exercise programs. These strategies are aimed at maintaining or stabilizing bone mass and preventing further loss. Living with osteoporosis presents older women with a variety of physical, psychological, and social challenges. To maintain a productive and healthy lifestyle, older women must recognize their physical limitations and make adjustments in their daily lives to cope successfully with these changes.     

Ultrasonometric profiling of incidence and risk of osteoporosis in rural women

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that over 200 million people worldwide have osteoporosis. The prevalence of osteoporosis is continuing to escalate with the increasingly aging population. The major complication of osteoporosis is an increase in fragility fractures leading to morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life. This investigation profiled the incidence and risk of osteoporosis in adult women from a rural setting using ultrasonic bone scanning technology. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2005, adult female subjects (n = 323) in the age range of 40-87 were drawn from an independent, community dwelling, convenience sample. Bone mineral density T-scores were evaluated using heel ultrasonometry. Demographic and risk factor data, Merck Osteoporosis Evaluation SCORE questionnaire data, and the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire data were analyzed. RESULTS: Results of these scans indicate that 25% of the total population had a T-score < or = -1.0, implying a 1.5- to 2.0-fold increase in risk ratio of hip or spinal fracture for each standard deviational decrease. Age at menopause and weight had a positive correlation with T-scores. While the overall scores on the Merck SCORE questionnaire were inversely correlated to T-scores, no significant correlation was found between the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire and T-score data. Additionally, women who had taken estrogen had significantly higher T-scores (p = 0.038) than those who had not. CONCLUSION: That approximately 25% of this sample has low bone mass or osteoporosis underscores the importance of early screening in order to develop preventative awareness and provide education on bone health management. This finding has particularly important ramifications, since the sample was rural women, who typically have limited access to diagnostic bone density procedures.     

Life satisfaction and family structure among adolescents in Hong Kong

Relationships between family structure and perceived life satisfaction in overall life and five domains of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, family life, friendships, school experience, myself, and where I live were examined among 4,502 Chinese adolescent secondary school students in Hong Kong. Bivariate analyses showed that economic status was not a significant risk factor, but gender, level of study, and migrant status had to be controlled to examine the life satisfaction-family structure relations. Logistic regression analyses found that in overall life, with adolescents living with two parents as standard for comparisons, adolescents living with mother had similar life satisfaction, but those living with father only, and those with no parents, or single parent with other adults had very much higher risk of life dissatisfaction. Specifically, the risks associated with the adverse family structures were most excessive in the domain of ‘family life’.     

Oxidative stress levels are reduced in postmenopausal women with exercise training regardless of hormone replacement therapy status

This study investigated whether postmenopausal women on HRT would experience a greater reduction in oxidative stress after 24 weeks of aerobic exercise training compared to postmenopausal women not on HRT. Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), an indicator of oxidative stress, was measured in 48 previously sedentary postmenopausal women on HRT (n = 21) and not on HRT (n = 27) before and after 24 weeks of aerobic exercise training. Baseline levels of TBARS differed significantly between groups after controlling for age, BMI, and fasting blood glucose (P = 0.03). There was a significant reduction in TBARS after 24 weeks of training in the overall group. When analyzed separately, both postmenopausal women on HRT and those not on HRT had a significant reduction in TBARS; however, there was no significant difference between groups (-0.71 +/- 0.14 nmol/ml in non-HRT users vs. -0.50 +/- 0.16 nmol/ml in HRT users; P = 0.33) even after controlling for age, BMI, and baseline levels of TBARS. Our results showed that aerobic exercise training significantly decreased oxidative stress in postmenopausal women; however, both HRT users and non-HRT users benefited equally.     

Family growth,household density,and moving

Residential and family histories collected from a sample of 4,027 couples in their first marriage and living in the Philadelphia-Trenton metropolitan area in 1960 are analyzed to determine the effects of marriage duration and childbearing on moving within the “local area.” Rates of moving decline sharply during the early years of marriage and more slowly after the tenth year. At any given marriage duration, the birth of children is associated with higher rates of moving. If the persons-per-room ratio of non-movers represents an acceptable household density, moving can be shown to be an adjustment mechanism whereby housing space is brought in balance with family needs. When couples who moved during a given three-year period defined in terms of marriage duration are compared with couples who did not move during that period, the movers are found to have had higher initial densities, would have had substantially higher densities had they not moved, but have similar terminal (after move) densities.     

Family size in successive generations: The effects of birth order,intergenerational change in lifestyle,and familial satisfaction

Studies of family size in successive generations have found a small but persistently positive effect of size of family of orientation. Recent work has suggested that this relationship may be influenced by birth order, intergenerational change in lifestyle, and familial satisfaction. Data from a 24-year longitudinal study of women in Pennsylvania indicate that number of siblings does influence size of family of procreation. More important, this relationship is stronger among women who were first-born that later-born, stronger for those not experiencing intergenerational change than for those who changed, and stronger among those who at age 16 were satisfied with their parental family than for those who were dissatisfied.     

Children of the closet: a measurement of the anxiety and self-esteem of children raised by a non-disclosed homosexual or bisexual parent

This research examined whether a parent's non-disclosure of his or her homosexual or bisexual orientation within the family unit negatively affects self-esteem and anxiety in children, as measured in adulthood. Thirty-six subjects indicated that they had not known of their parent's sexual orientation until an average age of sixteen for the children of lesbian or bisexual mothers, and twenty-two for the children of gay or bisexual fathers. This group's scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirabilty Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Scale were compared to scores obtained by sixty-three participants who did not have a homosexual/bisexual parent. The number of years a secretive environment surrounded the child was measured, as were participants' attitudes about the secret sexual identity. Although the study did not find that adults previously raised with a closeted parent had significantly higher levels of anxiety or lower levels of self-esteem, results indicated that those who had been raised as children with non-disclosed lesbian mothers showed a significantly higher level of self-esteem than participants with heterosexual parents. Implications of the findings for the targeted population are discussed.     

New partnerships in widowhood in Spain: Realities and desires

ABSTRACT

Widowhood has traditionally been associated with the end of the family cycle; however, social and generational transformations in Spain are providing a new context for the development of new partnerships in widowhood. This study analyzes widowed persons who have found new partners and those who would be willing to do so, focusing on their characteristics and motives and related sociodemographic factors. Research is based on a sample of 306 widows and widowers in Spain taken from the survey Social Networks and Well-Being. The results reveal the importance of sociodemographic factors for both those who wish to have a partner as well as for those who have one. For the former, elements associated with quality of life are very important, while among those with a new partner, the key is not having an extensive family support network. The principal motives for looking for a new relationship are related to enjoying life more and not feeling alone; while those who reject a new relationship do so because of the belief that their lost partner is irreplaceable.     

Marital fertility and religion in Spain, 1985 and 1999

Since the transition to democracy in Spain in 1975, both total fertility and rates of church attendance of Catholics have dropped dramatically. In this study the 1985 and 1999 Spanish Fertility Surveys were used to investigate whether the significance of religion for fertility behaviour -- current family size and the spacing of births -- changed between the survey dates. In the 1985 survey, family size was similar for those Catholics who actively participated in religious activities and those who, though nominally Catholic, were not active participants. By 1999, the family size of the latter was lower and comparable to the family size of those without religious affiliation. These findings accord with the declines in both church attendance and fertility in Spain. The small groups of Protestants and Muslims had the highest fertility. Women in inter-faith unions had relatively low fertility.     

Measuring Child Poverty in Hong Kong: Sensitivity to the Choice of Equivalence Scale

In September 2013, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region established Hong Kong’s first official poverty line. The new poverty line is used as a major yardstick in social welfare policy formulation and in the allocation of public resources aimed at combating poverty; despite its importance, however, its robustness has not been examined. Using data from the 2011 Population Census, we examined the robustness of the official poverty line in measuring child poverty in Hong Kong through assessing the sensitivity of child poverty measures to the choice of different equivalence scales. The results show that the child poverty profile in Hong Kong is generally not sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale and that the official poverty line correctly identifies those children who live in poverty. Rates of child poverty among boys and girls of different ages, with different family backgrounds and living in households with different compositions, were calculated and ranked using different equivalence scales; these rankings were found to be very similar to those yielded by the official poverty measure. Thus, the choice of adult equivalence scale does not favour any subgroup. We also examined the child poverty profile in Hong Kong based on the official poverty measure and with our 2011 census data. We found that the children in our sample were more likely than the adults to live in poverty household; that more than half of the children who lived in poverty belonged to working poor families; and that children living in public housing were particularly likely to suffer from severe poverty. In light of these findings, we urge the government to prioritise taking measures aimed at lifting children out of poverty.     

Beliefs and expectations of family and nursing home care among Mexican-origin caregivers

This study examined perceptions of family care, nursing homes, and expectations of future care among 85 Mexican-origin women caregivers, some who lived in Mexico City and some who lived in East Los Angeles, California (East LA). Attitudes of Mexican-born women—living in Mexico City and in East LA—were more similar to each other than those of U.S.-born women. Most caregivers reported a preference for family care and had negative views of institutional care. In addition, despite the negative views about nursing homes, some caregivers expressed a willingness to seek nursing-home care for themselves so as to avoid burdening their children in the future. Findings lend support to the persistence of Mexican cultural values in this sample of Mexican-origin caregiving women, regardless of where they were born.     

Female sterilization in Aberdeen: Preliminary findings

2,500 women whose first marriage was continuing and who were living with their husbands at the time of hospital admission were sterilized in Aberdeen between 1963 and 1971. The social and demographic characteristics of these women are analysed, and a preliminary analysis by marriage cohort is presented. Those marriage cohorts in which sterilization was being performed for the first time mainly on young women with small families are identified. The family size of sterilized women was found to be substantially higher than that of women from the same marriage cohort who had not undergone the procedure. The contribution to total fertility made by the various forms of foetal wastage is assessed. Women whose sterilization was performed in association with a termination of pregnancy were found to have patterns of foetal loss which differed markedly from those of women who were not pregnant at the time of the operation.     

Family planning practice and women's fertility decision-making power

This paper investigates the effects of family planning practice on fertility decision-making power in South Korea. The log-linear analysis of the 1981 survey data by the Institute of Population and Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, shows that those urban and rural women who practice family planning or have experienced abortion exercise greater influence on a couple's fertility decision making than those who do not practice family planning or who have had no abortion experience. In addition, there is the interactive effect of abortion experience and contraceptive use on fertility decision making among urban women. This finding is significant because regardless of how birth control is available within a society, birth control use enhances women's decision making power where fertility is concerned.     

An examination of the validity of the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) in a general adolescent population of Canada

This study examined the performance of the FAS II in a general population of 17,545 students in grades 7, 9, 10 and 12 in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. The FAS II was assessed against two other measures of socioeconomic status: mother’s highest level of education and family structure. Our study found that the FAS II reduces the likelihood of nonresponse which is a common threat to the validity of items inquiring about parental income, education or occupation. Ordinal regression analysis revealed that mother’s education and family structure were independent risk factors of lesser affluence. Participants whose mother had less than a post secondary degree were 2 to 3 times more likely to report lesser affluence and those who reported living in other than 2 parent families were 1.5 to 3 times more likely to report lesser affluence. The authors conclude that the FAS II is a useful measure of socioeconomic status for this population.     

Description of a domestic violence measure for Puerto Rican gay males

A sample of 302 Puerto Rican gay males living in Puerto Rico and New York participated in this study with the objective of assessing the prevalence of domestic violence. A self-administered questionnaire was developed addressing issues of intergenerational violence, addictive behaviors, and domestic violence in three dimensions: emotional, physical, and sexual violence. The results concluded that close to half of the participants had experienced some sort of violence in their intimate relationships, have a history of being witness to domestic violence in their family of origin, and had identified in themselves and their families, addictive behaviors. Other variables measured are HIV and sexual coercion, drug and alcohol abuse, and levels of acculturation among participants living in the United States. The main objective of this work is to describe the development of the instrument used in the study. Based on the results of this study we describe the psychometric characteristics and content of the final questionnaire. Final recommendations are made for other researchers interested in doing domestic violence studies with Latino gay men and men who have sex with men.     

Birth Intervals and Health in Adulthood: A Comparison of Siblings Using Swedish Register Data

A growing body of research has examined whether birth intervals influence perinatal outcomes and child health as well as long-term educational and socioeconomic outcomes. To date, however, very little research has examined whether birth spacing influences long-term health. We use contemporary Swedish population register data to examine the relationship between birth-to-birth intervals and a variety of health outcomes in adulthood: for men, height, physical fitness, and the probability of falling into different body mass index categories; and for men and women, mortality. In models that do not adjust carefully for family background, we find that short and long birth intervals are clearly associated with height, physical fitness, being overweight or obese, and mortality. However, after carefully adjusting for family background using a within-family sibling comparison design, we find that birth spacing is generally not associated with long-term health, although we find that men born after very long birth intervals have a higher probability of being overweight or obese in early adulthood. Overall, we conclude that birth intervals have little independent effect on long-term health outcomes.     

New rules for family planning and land management in Shaanxi province

These Rules, issued by the Government of Shaanxi Province, China, are as follows: "a) in appropriate residence-building sites and contracting economic forest, priority is given to those who practise family planning conscientiously; b) [a] bigger plot of land for producing mouth grain and of contracted land can be allocated to those single children who have received single child certificates; c) the quota of land appropriated for residence-building sites shall not be raised for those who have unplanned births, and no land for residence-building sites is given to those who get married below the legal age for marriage or who cohabit without going through the formal procedures of marriage registration; d) to those who have a first parity but early birth or a second birth without adequate spacing, appropriation of one person's share of contracted land will be delayed, and to those who have unplanned births, only half a share of contracted plot of land will be appropriated at a deferred date; e) those who violate the family planning policy or refuse to practise family planning shall not be permitted to contract economic forest."     

Family configuration and adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior

Several measures of family configuration, derived from the number, age, and sex of siblings and the number of parents, were related to adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior in a sample of 836 high school-aged teenagers from two Western states. Zero-order correlations showed that sexual intercourseexperience was less common among adolescents who lived with both parents and also among those who had younger siblings. Similarly, the zero-order correlations showed least permissiveattitudes among adolescents who had more siblings, especially younger siblings, and among those who lived with both parents. Controlling for adolescents' age, sex, race, religion, church attendance, and parents' educational attainment, however, essentially eliminated the relationships between family configuration variables and sexual attitudes and behavior. Only parents' marital structure, reflecting whether adolescents lived with both original parents or not, continued to be weakly related to adolescents' sexual attitudes and behvior.     

The language of (in)visibility: using in-between spaces as a vehicle for empowerment in the family

Drawing on 40 in-depth interviews with sexually nonconforming Latinas, this work looks at how these women negotiate family and achieve empowerment both through visibility and invisibility. This work explores the experiences of Latinas who verbally articulated their sexual nonconformity to their families as well as those who chose to maintain their relationships tacit. I offer that study participants found empowerment and agency not only through verbal articulation but also through tacit relationships and that sexually nonconforming Latinas inhabited an "in-between space" with their families that gave them the flexibility to pursue or not pursue visibility as they desired.