Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

POLICY NEWS

As reported last week, many States are starting to push back against the defunding of teen pregnancy prevention programs in their states. The latest such example is Minnesota, where in Hennepin County, HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) terminated a $214 million teen pregnancy prevention program. The grant had originally been obtained to last through 2020 and was cut as of 2018, and the suit filed asks that it be reinstated until 2020 again. Texas’ Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program is called Healthy Futures of Texas, and its Title X funds are slated to be cut. However, This organization and other Texas grant recipients are filing lawsuits to discontinue the termination of their grants. 

Title X is a federal grant program dedicated solely to providing funds for birth control and family planning. The Trump administration governs the awarding of such grant money. Of late, they have shifted their funding criteria to favor those organizations which promote abstinence rather than evidence based birth control. Several chapters of Planned Parenthood and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association have filed suit against the Trump administration alleging that this strategy violates the mission statement of Title X. 

During the recent years of the Trump administration, the number of uninsured Americans rose by 4 million. These are those who slip through the cracks between the Affordable Care Act plans and private insurance, with a single income of $30,000 and a joint family income of about $61,000. The data comes from the Commonwealth Fund who warned that this trend is likely to continue. 

MEDICAL NEWS

We have known for some time now that women have been concerned about contraceptive access ever since Trump was elected. Long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) have been the strategy for many women. In one particular study out of UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, uptake of LARCs nearly doubled in the two weeks following the election. 

All kinds of stereotypes exist about older people. Some have to do with sexual activity. A new study has shown that 40% of people ages 65-80 are sexually active, and of those, 73% are satisfied with their sex lives. In the subgroup of those with spouses or partners, a little over half are sexually active. Caregivers need to continue to bear all this in mind. 

ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) recently held its annual meeting. One presenter there highlighted the medical benefits of vibrators, and called upon Gynecologists to identify patients who might benefit from them, and initiate discussions which normalize their use. 

ACOG president Dr. Hal Lawrence has termed the current health care climate a “battle” and “ one that is not going to end anytime soon”. They have called it a “fight to protect women’s health care”. The ACOG president has highlight the advocacy efforts of the organization this past year, along with like minded others, the “Gang of Six” consisting of  internists, pediatricians, family doctors, psychiatrists, ob/gyns, and osteopaths. 

Menopause. It is the cessation of ovarian function and all that results from that. We cease to ovulate and become infertile. Then our hormone production quits, and we may have symptoms of estrogen deprivation, like hot flashes and vaginal dryness. The average age of menopause is 51, but the range is considerable and it takes about two years to get completely through. A new study has highlighted a little know fact, that women with a poor diet, i.e. diets high in refined carbohydrates, get menopause much sooner than those with high quality diets, such as those with lots of whole foods and fish. 

The postpartum period or so called fourth trimester, is getting some much needed attention. A new study has illuminated the prevalence of perinatal depression. Turns out it affects 1 in 7 women. Indeed, a related study found that maternal suicide takes more women than hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders combined, and accounts for 1 in 5 postpartum deaths. The study has also shown that only about a fourth of postpartum moms suffering from depression get treatment. Both the US Preventive Services Task Force and ACOG recommend mental health screening during pregnancy. Pregnant moms take note: Your postpartum visit should cover mood, emotions, infant care, sexuality , contraception, sleep, and health maintenance, to name a few. 

The opioid crisis has brought many problems for pregnant women and their children. However, one such problem can go under the radar: Hepatitis C.The opioid epidemic is driving an increase in Hepatitis C among mothers and children and neither the screening protocols for mothers or infants has kept up. Hepatitis C is transmitted by blood, and thus by needles, and infrequently, from mother to child. There is no vaccine, but just recently, there is a fairly good treatment. 

Stay tuned for more news from the intense world of Obstetrics and Gynecology, here, next week, on Medical Monday. 

Belated Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Actual patient care through the weekend prevented a timely publication of Medical Monday. Thanks for your patience ! 

The health care sector’s initial responses to the Trump administration’s approach to health care policy ranged from shock to anger. Now people and corporations are starting to take action, especially in the face of the administration’s disarray and impotence. 

The Trump administration through the Department of Health and Human Services slashed $200 million from the Teen Pregnancy and Prevention Program. (Can anybody tell me the process that made this possible, or does the President just decide like a dictator ? ) The spokesperson of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has spoken out and disputed the administration’s position which stated that there is “ very weak evidence of positive impact of these programs. “  Experts everywhere are dismayed since the programs are believed to have produced a 41% drop in the teen pregnancy rate since 2010. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and ACOG ( American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) both credit the declining teen birth rate to these programs. 

The Trump administration is bit by bit, trying to dismantle the ACA’s protections on reproductive health care. Most recently, the contraceptive mandate for employer sponsored programs is on the chopping block. ACOG has stated that the contraceptive mandate has driven the unintended pregnancy rate to a 30 year low, and eliminating this feature would be a threat to public health. 

The Trump administration has indicated its support for abstinence only sex education, which has no evidence to support its efficacy. However, the CDC has produced two meta-analyses which indicate that comprehensive sex education results in reduced overall levels of sexual activity and increased levels of protection among those that are sexually active. 

Indiana law classified the use of aborted fetal tissue as a felony. A group of Indiana researchers has challenged this legislation with a federal lawsuit. The group bringing the suit is from the National Institute of Health funded Alzheimers Disease Center where they do study brain tissue from aborted fetuses. 

A recent article in the Dallas Morning News has highlighted the new voice of corporate American in social policy. Corporate America needs a diverse and inclusive workforce, and it understand that inclusiveness is good for business. Accordingly, it has begun to stand up for diversity. From various quarters, highly placed business leaders have spoken out and defied the current administration’s divisive policies. Recent examples of these divisive policies and positions include the President’s reaction to the Charlottesville violence, as well as recent controversy regarding LGBT rights, i.e. the so-called bathroom bill. 

The writer of the Dallas Morning News editorial, Dr. Daniel Grossman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of California, San Francisco, has called upon the business community to begin speaking out on women’s reproductive rights as well. He cites the fact that fully 70% of Americans support women’s access to full reproductive services including abortion, and this is also the position of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Medical Association. A broad based field of research has shown time and again that access to comprehensive and affordable reproductive health care for women leads to better health, higher levels of educational attainment, and improved economic stability for women, families and society at large. To learn more see https://www.ansirh.org, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Heath, a division of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, http://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu. 

As mentioned in several past posts, States are starting to take matters into their own hands. They are, on their own State legislative calendars, enacting various bills that safeguard the requirements for insurance to cover various benefits such as birth control or prenatal care. The latest is Arkansas, which has passed a law which will require insurers in the State to cover indicated mammograms. 

In the good news department, we have word that there are bipartisan meetings planned in the first part of September, which will include Governors as well as State Insurance Commissioners. The goal of the meetings will be to stabilize existing insurance markets under the ACA. Things may actually start to get real. 

In medical news, the truth is starting to come out, as truth eventually does. New data published in a recent study shows that yearly mammograms starting at 40 (rather than every other year at 50) would prevent the most deaths due to breast cancer. According to this study out of Cornell and New York Presbyterian, for those aged 40-80, screening at 40 reduces breast cancer deaths by 40 % beyond current protocols. Those who read this column regularly already know that a whole segment of the health care world including ACOG, the American Cancer Society and the American College of Breast Surgeons among others, have always taken this view. They have taken serious issue with the short sighted recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) which has taken the position that mammograms in the 40s confer no benefit. 

All parties concerned recognize that this earlier and more frequent approach mammograms produces a higher number of false positives. However, actual clinicians ( doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners who see patients) do not take the position of the USPSTF(statisticians and epidemiologists largely)  that fear of mammograms, pain of mammograms, breast biopsies with benign results constituting a false positive, or even infected or bruised breast biopsies compare with a breast cancer death as a harm. In fact no number of these types of “harms” could ever add up to even one breast cancer death. 

The next item is in both the good news department and the we-already-knew-this department. A recent analysis published in the journal Menopause has indicated that vaginal estrogen does NOT confer increased cardiovascular risk. Vaginal estrogen does not appreciably enter systemic circulation. It stays local to the vagina, and does its job to relieve postmenopausal vaginal dryness. Vaginal estrogen was found to NOT increase risk for breast cancer or for any of these: colon cancer, uterus cancer, stroke, clots in the lung (pulmonary embolus) or deep vein thrombosis. Sheepish gynecologists should prescribe with confidence. 

A concerning new report published in the journal Pediatrics has brought to light that less than half of new moms are consistently putting their babies on their backs to sleep. Not doing so raises the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Three quarters state they “ usually" do so. Current guidelines clearly state that babies should be in their parents room, in their own bed, and on their back to sleep for the first six months of their life. 

Breast and ovarian cancer patients are not getting genetic testing at adequate rates. Genetic testing for these patients informs the care of their children. Moreover, it can also provide insight into their own treatment. Finally, it may ultimately provide information that could help us screen for and treat cancer in new and better ways. I look forward to the day when disease is understood and treated at a genetic level. To get there, we must as a society, contribute our personal genetic information in a meaningful way. 

That’s it for this week; Stay tuned next week for more news from the exciting world of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

In policy news we find more of the same. Texas again figures prominently, so much so that I have decided to create a new category: Texas news. Texas is an unmitigated perinatal disaster and is an embarrassment to this country, particularly to its medical establishment. But make no mistake, if current trends in law and politics are any indication, women's healthcare in every state will be like Texas.

To wit: a new study through the Commonwealth Fund has shown that one quarter of working age Texas women still lack insurance of any kind. A significant percentage of those who are insured struggle to pay medical bills and admit to having skipped needed care because of cost. Texas did chose not to expand its Medicaid, and this is believed to be one of the causes for these phenomena.

Also in Texas, ordinary standard insurance does not cover abortion. A new bill passing the Texas House will require women to buy supplemental insurance coverage for this procedure. It also increases reporting on complications after abortion and on the incidence of minors receiving the procedure. 

Finally in the Texas news, the Texas physician Dr. Brett Giroir, a Pediatrician, has been nominated for assistant Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. However, Democratic Senators have delayed his confirmation on concerns that he would not support women's health programs. And they wonder why Texas is in the state it's in.

The Trump administration has cut funding for the Texas Teen Pregnancy and Prevention Program. Now it proposes eliminating funding for all such programs across the country. Moreover the fundamental research for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Project is situated at Texas A&M University and theses researchers have recently been notified that their funding has been cut.

In Texas, Planned Parenthood has been barred from receiving Medicaid reimbursement. As a result the number of comments coming in to the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) have doubled from 9,000 per week to 18,000 per week. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities this will remove healthcare access from 45,000 people.

In the good news department, a bipartisan group of high ranking Senators are trying to strengthen existing law regarding health care. They are recommending that the Federal government continue paying subsidies, and that all Americans enroll in coverage. They also recommend renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he would consider such a bipartisan effort to shore up subsidy payments to insurers to stabilize current insurance markets.

In the medical news, one is seven women experience anxiety or depression in the first year after giving birth. This remains vastly under-diagnosed untreated with only 15% of those affected seeking help. Obstetricians have been alerted to increase screening for these debilitating conditions. 

In other concerning news, the team suicide rate among girls has reached a 40 year high. This is according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published this last week in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. As of 2015 it sits at about 5 per 100,000. 

Preterm birth has continued to be a significant perinatal problem and one that has been resistant to explanation and treatment. However, new research published in Obstetrics and Gynecology has indicated that sleep disorders may play a role in some cases. Data from over three million birth was studied, with conditions like apnea and insomnia being tied to preterm birth. 

New research indicates that risk of stroke is decreasing for men but not women. Stroke risk is related to the incidence of several medical conditions, including obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. These conditions are on the rise among women. 

Physicians and patients, listen up: Physicians are doing a BAD Job at educating patients about marijuana use in pregnancy. Increasing State legalization has led many to believe marijuana is entirely safe under varied conditions. (Since when do we believe what politicians have to say about science and medical care ? ) This has not been substantiated. According to researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver, the data available is limited, and sometimes flawed. However, there is “ moderate evidence that the use of marijuana in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of reduced fetal growth, lower IQ scores in young children, adverse effects on a child's cognitive functioning and academic ability, an increase in attention problems” There may also be associations with low birth weight and preterm birth. Patients need to be honest with their caregivers, and caregivers have to help patients to meet their needs some other way than to use marijuana.

Stay tuned form more fascinating and important news from the word of Obstetrics and Gynecology, next week, on Medical Monday. 

Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

As of Friday, intentions were to hold a vote on the ACA bill in the Senate this next week. This, despite the fact that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has been diagnosed with brain cancer and will not be back next week for the vote. He would have been a supporter of the bill.

It is clear that there are at least four GOP Senators who have already gone on record saying they will oppose it. Only two opposed are required to kill it. 

For a detailed review of the bill and the consensus on its ramifications, see last week’s blog post which was pretty comprehensive. Really nothing has changed since then. 

Two prominent antiabortion activists who are now on staff with the Trump administration have informed 81 (EIGHTY-ONE !) teen pregnancy centers that their Federal Funding will end in 2018. How can these decisions be made without any due process whatsoever ? 

On to medical news.

 There is not one but two Zika vaccines under development. Zika is the dreaded virus carried by mosquitos in temperate climates which causes central nervous system and eye defects in the unborn. On of the vaccines is in human safety trials, and another is in safety trials for pregnant animals. Vaccine trials may be hampered by reduced funding to the CDC ( Centers for Disease Control) through the Trump administration. 

Another approach to Zika is to introduce genetically modified strains of mosquitoes that die in one to two days. However, some on Texas object to this strategy citing possible unintended consequences. 

Two to three years from now, in 2020, it is predicted that there will be a shortage of nearly 10,000 Obstetricians Gynecologists. This applies not just to rural areas, but to big cities as well. The training is hard, the hours long. The work is risky, from both a medical and a legal point of view.  Costs are high if one is not employed by a large organization. Private practice Ob/Gyn is nearly extinct. Sure it can be rewarding and fascinating. It often is. Lately, though, the lack of regard for women’s health pose new concerns. 

Many rural hospitals are removing maternity services. This should come as no surprise since maternity care is acute care and is potentially intensive or surgical on a reasonably regular basis. Staffing and facility needs for such care is high, and the availability of those who can render it is getting lower all the time. According to recent study, over half of rural counties in the US lack hospital based Obstetrics. In all fairness, this is a big country, unlike Europe for example, and people here sometimes choose to live way out in the boonies. It goes a long way to explaining why the US has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. That, together with the obesity epidemic, its complications of diabetes, hypertension and preeclampsia, and the defunding of women’s health care resources explain it well enough. 

How bad is the obesity epidemic ? Perhaps you have no objections to a full figure. Ok, but do you object to life shortening disease ? Of course. The CDC now reports that over 100 million US citizens have diabetes or pre diabetes. Most with pre diabetes do not even realize they have it. If you are overweight, ask your caregiver to screen you with fasting blood sugar, 2 hour blood sugar after eating, and also screen your cholesterol and triglycerides ! Knowledge is power. 

Fake sweeteners are not helpful. A new meta analysis of 7 studies has shown that people consuming these do not lose weigh compared to those who do not consume them. Moreover, these studies also show that those consuming artificial sweeteners are at increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular issues over time compared to non-users. This probably has more to do with the misbegotten habits of the users rather than something intrinsic to the artificial sweeteners, but we simply do not know. 

We always need some news in the-we-already-knew-this department. This week, we again learned that healthy diet and exercise in pregnancy are associated with lower rates of gestational diabetes and C section. 

Finally, in very interesting and early work, thyroid hormone and metformin (a common diabetic medication) seem to be able to reduce memory and learning problems in rats exposed to alcohol during pregnancy. This groundbreaking work was published in Molecular Cytology and will hopefully spur more research on the subject. 

Stay tuned for more exciting news next week, on Medical Monday. 

Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Zika again dominates the news in Ob/Gyn. As of Friday, a storm system was approaching the subtropical state of Florida, where 43 are confirmed infected with the Zika Virus. Authorities think the storm may help spread the virus which is transmitted by mosquitos and sex. Meanwhile, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) does not have enough Zika testing resources. I myself experienced this last week when I was told a specimen we sent to the CDC would take “weeks” to result. We Ob/Gyns are not able to effectively work in time frames like this, and so this week we will have being having some words with the powers that be. 

A new study published in Radiology has shown that Zika can cause many other brain defects besides microcephaly. They have thus far identified 8 major defects. One of the most common was ventriculomegaly, or enlarged ventricles and thinning cortex. 

Thus far the Florida outbreak has been clustered around Miami. However Thursday, an isolated case showed up some 250 miles to the north in Tampa Bay, Pinellas county. It is still unclear how this occurred. On the bright side, modeling done by researchers at the University of Florida has indicated that the total outbreak should limited to under 400 individuals or less, considering all the southern states. They also believe winter will stop the outbreak, which would then recur next summer the same way. It is estimated that 20,000 pregnant women in the Miami area are taking extreme measures such as confinement indoors or moving to avoid Zika infection. 

NewYork officials are noting that travel restrictions to Zika affected area not being properly observed by pregnant or pre conceptual women. How do they expect people to take these restrictions seriously when they gave full sanction to people traveling to the Olympics in Rio? 

Dr. Kristyn Brandi writes that Zika is spreading more rapidly than anticipated in Puerto Rico, and that resources of information and contraception are not adequately available. 

The chair of ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) has written a strongly worded piece which has criticized how politics has prevented the funding of an adequate Zika response. He and co author, Dr. Didi Saint Louis of Morehouse School of Medicine have called for the full funding of comprehensive reproductive health care to allow women to avoid or delay pregnancy. They have called on Congress to reconvene to deal with this. 

In the non-Zika news, HPV virus is in the spotlight. This virus is responsible for abnormal paps, and cervical cancer, among other things. It has an effective vaccine which is meant for young people between the ages of 9 and 26. However parents remain wary to give it to their children. Research is being done regarding the prospect of putting it on the list of already mandatory vaccines which must be done before school entry. Surveys show that parents would accept this as long as there was an opt out provision. As of 2014, only 40% of girls and 20% of boys were vaccinated. It will be interesting to see if there will be those who decline the Zika vaccine once it gets developed. 

Breastfeeding is practiced by about 80% of all American women when they leave the hospital. However less than a third keep it up for the recommended time. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that infants should get nothing but breast milk for six months, and that breastfeeding should continue one year. 

Co-sleeping beyond six  months has been shown to produce significant stress on women. Researchers at Penn State note this may be related to fragmented sleep and less time with partner. Perhaps this is related to the falloff in breastfeeding. 

In the everyone-already-knows-this department, researchers at UCLA have discovered that menopause accelerates aging. In all fairness, what they have determined is that methylation increases in menopause, accelerating cellular aging about 6 %.

And in the we-should-have-known department, the “ baby simulator” program in high schools designed to deter teen pregnancy may actually be encouraging it. Graduates of the program with over third more like to have a teen pregnancy. 

Stay tuned next week for more news from the amazing world of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  

Medical Monday: Breaking News from the World of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Good Monday.

First the Zika news. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has stated that "everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought”, noting that "the virus has been linked to a broader array of birth defects throughout a longer period of pregnancy, including premature birth and blindness in addition to the smaller brain size caused by microcephaly”. Additionally, she announced that "the mosquito that carries the Zika virus is present in 30 states, more than twice what officials originally thought. The maps at right indicated the territory of these mosquitos. Click on the image to take you to the CDC site on the subject. 

The White House has shifted nearly $589 million or over half a billion dollars in leftover Ebola funds in order to fight the Zika virus. This comes well short of the $1.9 billion that has been requested by the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of this organization has announced that he will also be diverting funds from other areas in order to close the gap on funding what he views as critical efforts.

Florida leads the nation in number of Zika cases which last week totaled 84. Zika cases in Florida account for 23% of all cases in the states. Mosquito activity is of course greater in warm climates. It is expected that when the rest of the southern part of the country achieves these temperatures that Zika transmission will increase. The CDC has reiterated that insect repellent containing DEET are safe to use at any stage of pregnancy.

Zika is now associated a third clearcut disease entity. We already know a fair amount about microcephaly which is incurred by the fetus when a pregnant woman acquires a Zika infection during pregnancy. We also know about Guillain-Barré syndrome, post viral paralysis, which can effect of minority of people after a Zika infection. Researchers in Brazil are now reporting that the virus may be linked to "an autoimmune disorder known as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis or ADEM. In this syndrome neurological symptoms could start right away or as long as two weeks later. 

New research from the CDC indicates that white women between the ages of 30s and 50s are dying at increasing rates. This is been attributed to poor access to healthcare in rural America. In related news, a new study from Delaware has indicated that women enrollees in their state Medicaid program outnumber men to 2 to 1. State officials are interpreting this as an indication of increased poverty among women.

California has expanded the care that pharmacists are able to give. Perhaps most significantly, they are now able to prescribe contraceptives without the patient having to visit to another caregiver. While three quarters of physicians in one poll do not support the dispensing of birth control by a pharmacist, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists support this legislation wholeheartedly.

Delaware has modified its Medicaid policy to require that contraceptive costs be bundled with the hospital’s charge for obstetric care. The Governor of the state, Jack Markell, recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times describing this change and indicating his belief that it would allow for better family planning. He also went on to argue that contraception is vital to prosperity. 

The Guttmacher Institute recently released a study showing that teen abortion and pregnancy rates have dropped to historic lows. Teen pregnancy rates in particular have been cut in half between the years 1990 and 2011. The teen pregnancy rate in 2011 was 52.4 per thousand and, also of interest, is nearly 25% lower than the rate in 2008.

That seems like plenty to think about this week. Stay tuned next week for more news from the amazing world of Ob/Gyn.