Jody Steinauer

Disparities in family planning

Prominent racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy, abortion, and unintended births exist in the United States. These disparities can contribute to the cycle of disadvantage experienced by specific demographic groups when women are unable to control their fertility as desired. In this review we consider 3 factors that contribute to disparities in family planning outcomes: patient preferences and behaviors, health care system factors, and provider-related factors. Through addressing barriers to access to family planning services, including abortion and contraception, and working to ensure that all women receive patient-centered reproductive health care, health care providers and policy makers can substantially improve the ability of women from all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds to make informed decisions about their fertility.

Systematic review of mifepristone for the treatment of uterine leiomyomata

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the effect of mifepristone on uterine leiomyoma size and symptoms and to summarize its adverse effects. DATA SOURCES: A computerized search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and Cochrane databases from 1985 to 2002 and hand searches of conference proceedings from 1995 to 2002 were performed with the search terms “mifepristone” and “leiomyomata” and publication type “clinical trial.” METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: Titles and abstracts were reviewed by 2 authors; there were no areas of disagreement. Inclusion criteria were clinical trials of daily mifepristone for uterine leiomyomata that measured uterine or leiomyoma volume before and after treatment. TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: Data from each article were abstracted by 2 reviewers. The search identified 6 before-and-after clinical trials involving a total of 166 women with symptomatic uterine leiomyomata. The subjects received 5 to 50 mg/d of mifepristone for 3 to 6 months. No study was placebo-controlled or blinded. Meta-analytic techniques were not performed due to variation in outcome and mifepristone dose. Daily treatment with all doses of mifepristone resulted in reductions in uterine and leiomyoma volumes ranging from 27% to 49% and 26% to 74%, respectively. Mifepristone treatment reduced the prevalence and severity of dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and pelvic pressure. Rates of amenorrhea ranged from 63% to 100%. Transient elevations in transaminases occurred in 4%. Endometrial hyperplasia was detected in 10 (28%) of 36 women screened by endometrial biopsy. CONCLUSION: Published trials of mifepristone showed reduction in leiomyoma size and improvement in symptoms. A notable adverse effect of mifepristone was development of endometrial hyperplasia.

Women's preferences for contraceptive counseling and decision making

BACKGROUND Little is known about what women value in their interactions with family planning providers and in decision making about contraception. STUDY DESIGN We conducted semistructured interviews with 42 black, white and Latina patients. Transcripts were coded using modified grounded theory. RESULTS While women wanted control over the ultimate selection of a method, most also wanted their provider to participate in the decision-making process in a way that emphasized the womens values and preferences. Women desired an intimate, friend-like relationship with their providers and also wanted to receive comprehensive information about options, particularly about side effects. More black and Spanish-speaking Latinas, as compared to whites and English-speaking Latinas, felt that providers should only share their opinion if it is elicited by a patient or if they make their rationale clear to the patient. CONCLUSION While, in the absence of medical contraindications, decision making about contraception has often been conceptualized as a womans autonomous decision, our data indicate that providers of contraceptive counseling can participate in the decision-making process within limits. Differences in preferences seen by race/ethnicity illustrate one example of the importance of individualizing counseling to match womens preferences.

Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Does It Cause Incontinence

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effect of hormone therapy on risk of stress and urge urinary incontinence. METHODS: The Heart Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial to evaluate daily oral conjugated estrogen (0.625 mg) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (2.5 mg) therapy for the prevention of heart disease events in women with established heart disease. The 1,208 participants in Heart Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study who reported no loss of urine in the previous 7 days at baseline are included in this analysis. RESULTS: During 4.2 years of treatment, 64% of women randomly assigned to hormone therapy compared with 49% of those assigned to placebo reported weekly incontinence (P < .001). The higher risk of incontinence in the hormone group was evident at 4 months, persisted throughout the treatment period, and was independent of the age of the women. The odds ratios for weekly incontinence among women on hormone therapy compared with placebo were 1.5 for urge incontinence (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–1.8; P < .001) and 1.7 for stress incontinence (95% CI 1.5–2.1; P < .001). Four years of treatment with hormone therapy caused an excess risk of 12% for weekly urge incontinence and 16% for weekly stress incontinence; the corresponding numbers needed to harm were 8.6 (95% CI 5.8–16.6) and 6.2 (95% CI 4.6–9.4). CONCLUSION: Estrogen plus progestin therapy increases risk of urge and stress incontinence within 4 months of beginning treatment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I

Meiotic recombination in human oocytes.

Studies of human trisomies indicate a remarkable relationship between abnormal meiotic recombination and subsequent nondisjunction at maternal meiosis I or II. Specifically, failure to recombine or recombination events located either too near to or too far from the centromere have been linked to the origin of human trisomies. It should be possible to identify these abnormal crossover configurations by using immunofluorescence methodology to directly examine the meiotic recombination process in the human female. Accordingly, we initiated studies of crossover-associated proteins (e.g., MLH1) in human fetal oocytes to analyze their number and distribution on nondisjunction-prone human chromosomes and, more generally, to characterize genome-wide levels of recombination in the human female. Our analyses indicate that the number of MLH1 foci is lower than predicted from genetic linkage analysis, but its localization pattern conforms to that expected for a crossover-associated protein. In studies of individual chromosomes, our observations provide evidence for the presence of “vulnerable” crossover configurations in the fetal oocyte, consistent with the idea that these are subsequently translated into nondisjunctional events in the adult oocyte.

Abortion training in United States obstetrics and gynecology residency programs

OBJECTIVE: To identify characteristics of programs which provide training in abortion, to calculate the number of procedures done during training, and to compare the availability of abortion training in 2004 with that of prior national surveys. METHODS: An investigator-designed questionnaire about abortion training in obstetrics and gynecology residency programs was mailed to all U.S. residency directors. Collected data included program information, abortion training, and numbers of residents trained. Data were analyzed to estimate differences in abortion training by region, program size, and type of training offered. RESULTS: Of the 252 questionnaires mailed, 185 (73%) were returned. Of the 185, 94 (51%) program directors reported routine instruction in elective abortion, 72 (39%) optional training, and 19 (10%) no training. Large programs and programs located in the Northeast and West Coast were significantly more likely to offer routine training in terminations (P < .01). In the programs offering routine training, more than 50% of residents received instruction in termination practices. Of those practices, the most common were first-trimester surgical abortion (85% of programs), followed by medical abortion (59%), second-trimester induction (51% of programs), and dilation and extraction (36%). As compared with those in programs with optional training, residents in programs with routine training were significantly more likely to receive instruction in all modalities of abortion provision and performed proportionally more first- and second-trimester terminations (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Routine training in elective abortion resulted in greater exposure to abortion practices and greater experience in more complicated abortion techniques during residency. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III

Recommendations for Intrauterine Contraception: A Randomized Trial of the Effects of Patients’ Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

OBJECTIVE Recommendations by health care providers have been found to vary by patient race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status and may contribute to health disparities. This study investigated the effect of these factors on recommendations for contraception. STUDY DESIGN One of 18 videos depicting patients of varying sociodemographic characteristics was shown to each of 524 health care providers. Providers indicated whether they would recommend levonorgestrel intrauterine contraception to the patient shown in the video. RESULTS Low socioeconomic status whites were less likely to have intrauterine contraception recommended than high socioeconomic status whites (odds ratio [OR], 0.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.69); whereas, socioeconomic status had no significant effect among Latinas and blacks. By race/ethnicity, low socioeconomic status Latinas and blacks were more likely to have intrauterine contraception recommended than low socioeconomic status whites (OR, 3.4; and 95% CI, 1.1-10.2 and OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.0-9.6, respectively), with no effect of race/ethnicity for high socioeconomic status patients. CONCLUSION Providers may have biases about intrauterine contraception or make assumptions about its use based on patient race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Neisseria gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis Screening at Intrauterine Device Insertion and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between Neisseria gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis screening strategies and risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) after intrauterine device (IUD) insertion. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all IUD insertions at Kaiser Permanente Northern California from January 2005 to August 2009. The PID incidence within 90 days after insertion was compared among women who were and were not screened for N gonorrhea and C trachomatis. The study was powered for equivalence with a PID risk difference of −0.006 to 0.006 between two groups considered to be clinically insignificant. Risk difference was calculated by subtracting the proportion of females with PID in one screening group from the proportion of females with PID in the comparison screening group. RESULTS: Of 57,728 IUD insertions, 47% were unscreened within 1 year of insertion; of screened women, 19% were screened on the same day. The overall risk of PID was 0.54% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.48–0.60%). Nonscreening had an equivalent risk of PID as any screening (risk difference −0.0034, 95% CI −0.0045 to −0.0022), and same-day screening was equivalent to prescreening (risk difference −0.0031, 95% CI −0.0049 to −0.0008). The equivalence persisted when adjusted for age and race and when stratified by age younger than 26 years and older than 26 years. CONCLUSION: The risk of PID in women receiving IUDs was low. These results support IUD insertion protocols in which clinicians test women for N gonorrhea and C trachomatis based on risk factors and perform the test on the day of insertion. These findings have potential to reduce barriers to IUD use for women seeking highly effective, long-term, reversible contraception. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II

Insertion of intrauterine contraceptives immediately following first- and second-trimester abortions.

BACKGROUND The study was conducted to assess the continuation and patient satisfaction with intrauterine contraception (IUC) insertion immediately after elective abortion in the first and second trimesters in an urban, public hospital-based clinic. STUDY DESIGN A cohort of 256 women who elected to have insertion of a copper-T IUC (CuT380a) or a levonorgestrel-releasing IUC (LNG-IUC) were followed postoperatively by phone calls or chart review to evaluate satisfaction and continuation with the method. RESULTS Of our 256 subjects, 123 had first-trimester abortions and 133 had second-trimester abortions (14 or more weeks). Median time to follow-up was 8 weeks (range 7-544 days). Nineteen discontinuations occurred: eight (6.5%, 95% CI 2.8-12.4%) following first-trimester and 11 (8.3%, 95% CI 4.2-14.3%) following second-trimester abortion (p=.6). Five women reported expulsion; one (0.8%, 95% CI 0.0-4.4%) in the first-trimester group and four (3.0%, 95% CI 0.8-7.5%) in the second-trimester group. (p=.4) Seven infections resulting in discontinuation occurred (2.7%, 95% CI 1.1-5.6%); none were positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia at time of insertion. No perforations occurred. Nearly all (93.8%) of the women were satisfied with IUC. Rates of satisfaction between women after first- and second-trimester abortions were equal. CONCLUSION In an urban clinic, IUC has high initial continuation and high patient satisfaction when inserted immediately following either first- or second-trimester abortions.

Preferences for Decision-Making About Contraception and General Health Care Among Reproductive Age Women at an Abortion Clinic

OBJECTIVE Studies suggest that not all patients desire shared decision making, and little is known about decision making around contraception. This study compared decision-making preferences for contraception to preferences for general health among reproductive-aged women. METHODS 257 women receiving abortion care in an urban hospital completed a survey which included questions adapted from the Problem-Solving Decision-Making Scale about their preferences for medical decision making. RESULTS Women were significantly more likely to desire autonomous decision making about contraception than about their general health care (50% vs. 19%, p<.001). No patient characteristics were associated with contraceptive decision-making preferences. Women with Medicaid insurance were more likely to desire autonomous decision making about contraception than about general health care (51% vs. 17%, p<.001). CONCLUSION Women desire more autonomy in their contraceptive decisions than in their decisions about general health care. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Health care providers should be attentive to the existence of variation in preferences in decision making across health domains. Contraceptive providers should proactively assess decisional preferences to ensure the most appropriate counseling is provided to each individual.