Zika Virus was front and center at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) this last week. Hospital protocols are being developed to handle Zika affected births. Additionally, research continues into the the way that the virus affects babies, some utilizing the placenta.
The annual ACOG meeting also presented a medical legal panel which presented evidence that latest cluster of TRAP (targeted regulation of abortion providers) laws were not based on medical indications. Many such laws are introduced under the auspices of medical necessity, where the available medical literature does not indicate such. It seems to me that abortion opponents should be truthful about promoting pieces of legislation based on their moral and religious views, and not medical science, for which there is none.
In Brazil, where Zika virus is rampant, abortion is illegal, even for anomalies. Recently, evangelical politicians there have introduced stricter penalties there for those who illegally are found to have aborted a baby with microcephaly. There are nearly one million illegal abortions in Brazil each year. The number of women who are hospitalized for complications from these illegal abortions is ten times the number of women who are not.
Oklahoma just passed a law making it illegal to have an abortion. It is a felony there, punishable by up to three years in prison. Physicians performing abortions would have their medical license revoked.
And no matter where you stand on the issue of abortion, it comes as good news that abortions in the US and other developed countries have significantly declined since the 1990s. In my experience, abortion is a tough decision for people and is fairly hard on women.
Also in the good news department, new research in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) indicated that exercise wards of a variety of different types of cancer, even in those who smoke or are obese. There is a 20 % risk reduction for about 13 different types of cancers including esophagus, lung, kidney, stomach, endometrium and others.
And in some news which I consider to be outstandingly good news, a panel at ACOG has generated a strong statement of consensus that 39 weeks is the optimal time to delivery a baby. They have stated that there is little to gain and considerable to lose thereafter. We Ob/Gyns are committed to practicing evidence based medicine, and so I have managed patients according to the existing algorithms of the day supported by the best available evidence at the time. But, as my 22 years of practice have ticked by, I have had a stronger and stronger hunch about this 39 week point. Now there is finally a high level consensus about it. The presentation was so strong the the 63% opposed to the consensus before the talk turned into a 81% for the consensus by the end of the meeting. Inductions at 39 weeks had a lower complication rate than previously appreciated, and the C section rate did not increase.
The vaccine rate for HPV (Human papilloma virus) has been low in this country. However, it is more than it has been in last years, and the rates of high risk HPV disease are decreasing. To really stamp out cervical cancer, we need to achieve the so-called “herd immunity” conferred by near universal vaccination.
More good news…. In 2010, 16 % of Americans were uninsured. In 2015 this dropped to 9.1 % of Americans. Of course this is related to the ACA, the Affordable Care Act. Of course this has a cost. But, as a physician, I would like to remind the non-medical public that it is much cheaper for the taxpayer to pay for early prevention of illness and pregnancy than to pay for delayed treatment of illness and unintended pregnancy.
Stay tuned for more breaking news from the work of Obstetrics and Gynecology next week on Medical Monday.