Are doctors using more preventive medication for cardiovascular disease? A Swedish cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Despite decreasing mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD), there are persistent inequities in mortality between socioeconomic groups. Primary preventative medications reduce mortality in CVD; thus, inequitable treatments will contribute to unequal outcomes. Physicians might contribute to inequality by prescribing preventative medication for CVD to themselves in a biased manner. AIM: To determine whether primary medications for preventing CVD were prescribed inequitably between physicians and non-physicians. DESIGN AND SETTING: This retrospective study retrieved registry data on prescribed medications for all physicians in Sweden aged 45-74 years, during 2013, and for reference non-physician individuals, matched by sex, age, residence, and level of education. The outcome was any medication for preventing CVD, received at least once during 2013. METHOD: Age and the sex-specific prevalence of myocardial infarction (MI) among physicians and non-physicians were used as a proxy for the need for medication. Thereafter, to limit the analysis to preventative medication, we excluded individuals that were diagnosed with CVD or diabetes. To analyse differences in medication usage between physicians and matched non-physicians, we estimated odds ratios (ORs) with conditional logistic regression and adjusted for need and household income. RESULTS: MI prevalences were 5.7% for men and 2.3% for women, among physicians, and 5.4% for men and 1.8% for women, among non-physicians. We included 25,105 physicians and 44,366 non-physicians. The OR for physicians receiving any CVD preventative medication, compared to non-physicians, was 1.65 (95% confidence interval 1.59-1.72). CONCLUSION: We found an inequity in prescribed preventative CVD medications, which favoured physicians over non-physicians.

KEYPOINTSGroups with low socioeconomic status have lower rates of using medication that prevents cardiovascular disease, compared to groups with high socioeconomic status.Physicians are responsible for prescribing all medicines to prevent cardiovascular disease; thus, biased prescriptions could have effects on the equality of care in the population.Compared to individuals with equivalent education, physicians had higher rates of using medication that prevents cardiovascular disease.This study highlights the need for systematic population-based evaluation of CVD risk in order to promote equitable CVD outcomes.

"I have to do twice as well" - managing everyday racism in a Swedish medical school.

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence suggests that medical students from cultural/ethnic minority backgrounds face recurring and more or less subtle racist oppression, i.e., everyday racism. Insights into how they handle these inequalities, though, are scarce - especially in a Swedish context. In this interview study we therefore explored and analyzed the strategies used by racialized minority medical students to manage episodes of everyday racism - and their underlying motives and considerations. METHODS: Individual interviews were carried out with 15 medical students (8 women, 7 men) who self-identified as having ethnic- or cultural minority backgrounds. Inspired by constructivist grounded theory, data were collected and analyzed simultaneously. RESULTS: Participants strove to retain their sense of self as active students and professional future physicians - as opposed to passive and problematic 'Others'. Based on this endeavor, they tried to manage the threat of constraining stereotypes and exclusion. Due to the power relations in medical education and clinical placement settings as well as racialized students' experience of lacking both credibility and support from bystanders, few dared to speak up or report negative treatment. Instead, they sought to avoid racism by withdrawing socially and seeking safe spaces. Or, they attempted to adopt a professional persona that was resistant to racial slights. Lastly, they tried to demonstrate their capability or conform to the majority culture, in attempts to refute stereotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Racism is not caused by the exposed individuals' own ways of being or acting. Therefore, behavioral changes on the part of minority students will not relieve them from discrimination. Rather, strategies such as adaptation and avoidance run the risk of re-inscribing the white majority as the norm for a medical student. However, as long as racialized minority students stand alone it is difficult for them to act in any other way. To dismantle racism in medical education, this study indicates that anti-racist policies and routines for handling discrimination are insufficient. School management should also acknowledge racially minoritized students' experiences and insights about racist practices, provide students and supervisors with a structural account of racism, as well as organize training in possible ways to act as a bystander to support victims of racism, and create a safer working environment for all.

"It was as if I wasn't there" - Experiences of everyday racism in a Swedish medical school.

The aim of this study was to explore and analyze how cultural/ethnic minority students at a Swedish medical school perceive and make sense of educational experiences they viewed as related to their minority position. We interviewed 18 medical students (10 women, and 8 men), who self-identified as coming from minority backgrounds. Data were collected and analyzed simultaneously, inspired by constructivist grounded theory methodology. The concepts 'everyday racism' and 'racial microaggressions' served as a theoretical framework for understanding how inequities were experienced and understood. Participants described regularly encountering subtle adverse treatment from supervisors, peers, staff, and patients. Lack of support from bystanders was a common dimension of their stories. These experiences marked interviewees' status as 'Other' and made them feel less worthy as medical students. Interviewees struggled to make sense of being downgraded, excluded, and discerned as different, but seldom used terms like being a victim of discrimination or racism. Instead, they found other explanations by individualizing, renaming, and relativizing their experiences. Our results indicate that racialized minority medical students encounter repeated practices that, either intentionally or inadvertently, convey disregard and sometimes contempt based on ideas about racial and/or cultural 'Otherness'. However, most hesitated to name the behaviors and comments experienced as "discriminatory" or "racist", likely because of prevailing ideas about Sweden and, in particular, medical school as exempt from racism, and beliefs that racial discrimination can only be intentional. To counteract this educational climate of exclusion medical school leadership should provide supervisors, students, and staff with theoretical concepts for understanding discrimination and racism, encourage them to engage in critical self-reflection on their roles in racist power relations, and offer training for bystanders to become allies to victims of racism.

Activities of daily living in Parkinson's disease: Time/gender perspective.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to explore the changes in the activities of daily living (ADL) in persons with Parkinson's disease (pwPD) over time and to investigate possible differences in ADL performance between men and women with PD. MATERIALS & METHODS: One hundred twenty-nine persons (76 men) with a clinically established PD self-assessed their ADL performance from the time of diagnosis up to 8 years follow-up using the ADL taxonomy. Other demographic and clinical data (motor state, cognition, depression) were also collected and subjected to further analysis. RESULTS: Nine of 12 domains in the ADL taxonomy showed a change over time (Eating and Drinking [P = .009], Mobility [P < .001], Toilet activities [P = .031], Dressing [P < .001], Personal hygiene [P < .001], Communication [P < .001], Cooking [P = .001], Shopping [P < .001] and Cleaning [P < .001]). In addition to time, two domains, (Shopping [P = .007] and Cleaning [P = .027]) also showed an effect of gender with worse scores in women. The nine ADL domains showing effect of time, showed temporary improvement at 12 months follow-up, most probably due to dopaminergic medication. All nine domains deteriorated at later follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: As expected, there was deterioration in self-assessed performance in the majority od ADL domains over time. Women assessed their ADLs worse in two domains (Shopping and Cleaning) probably reflecting a general gender-related activity pattern rather than being a PD-specific finding.

User Experience of an App-Based Treatment for Stress Urinary Incontinence: Qualitative Interview Study.

BACKGROUND: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects 10%-39% of women. Its first-line treatment consists of lifestyle interventions and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), which can be performed supervised or unsupervised. Health apps are increasing in number and can be used to improve adherence to treatments. We developed the Tät app, which provides a 3-month treatment program with a focus on PFMT for women with SUI. The app treatment was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial, which demonstrated efficacy for improving incontinence symptoms and quality of life. In this qualitative interview study, we investigated participant experiences of the app-based treatment. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore women's experiences of using an app-based treatment program for SUI. METHODS: This qualitative study is based on telephone interviews with 15 selected women, with a mean age of 47 years, who had used the app in the previous randomized controlled trial. A semistructured interview guide with open-ended questions was used, and the interviews were transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed according to the grounded theory. RESULTS: The results were grouped into three categories: "Something new!" "Keeping motivation up!" and "Good enough?" A core category, "Enabling my independence," was identified. The participants appreciated having a new and modern way to access a treatment program for SUI. The use of new technology seemed to make incontinence treatment feel more prioritized and less embarrassing for the subjects. The closeness to their mobile phone and app features like reminders and visual graphs helped support and motivate the women to carry through the PFMT. The participants felt confident that they could perform the treatment program on their own, even though they expressed some uncertainty about whether they were doing the pelvic floor muscle contractions correctly. They felt that the app-based treatment increased their self-confidence and enabled them to take responsibility for their treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the app-based treatment program for SUI empowered the women in this study and helped them self-manage their incontinence treatment. They appreciated the app as a new tool for supporting their motivation to carry through a slightly challenging PFMT program. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01848938; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01848938 (Archived by WebCite at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01848938).

To select or be selected - gendered experiences in clinical training affect medical students' specialty preferences.

BACKGROUND: The literature investigating female and male medical students' differing career intentions is extensive. However, medical school experiences and their implications for professional identity formation and specialty choice have attracted less attention. In this study we explore the impact of medical school experiences on students' specialty preferences, investigate gender similarities and differences, and discuss how both might be related to gender segregation in specialty preference. METHODS: In a questionnaire, 250 Swedish final-year medical students described experiences that made them interested and uninterested in a specialty. Utilizing a sequential mixed methods design, their responses were analyzed qualitatively to create categories that were compared quantitatively. RESULTS: Similar proportions of women and men became interested in a specialty based on its knowledge area, patient characteristics, and potential for work-life balance. These aspects, however, often became secondary to whether they felt included or excluded in clinical settings. More women than men had been deterred by specialties with excluding, hostile, or sexist workplace climates (W = 44%, M = 16%). In contrast, more men had been discouraged by specialties' knowledge areas (W = 27%, M = 47%). CONCLUSIONS: Male and female undergraduates have similar incentives and concerns regarding their career. However, the prevalence of hostility and sexism in the learning environment discourages especially women from some specialties. To reduce gender segregation in specialty choice, energy should be directed towards counteracting hostile workplace climates that explain apparent stereotypical assumptions about career preferences of men and women.

Qualitative methods in PhD theses from general practice in Scandinavia.

Qualitative methodology is gaining increasing attention and esteem in medical research, with general practice research taking a lead. With these methods, human and social interaction and meaning can be explored and shared by systematic interpretation of text from talk, observation or video. Qualitative studies are often included in Ph.D. theses from general practice in Scandinavia. Still, the Ph.D. programs across nations and institutions offer only limited training in qualitative methods. In this opinion article, we draw upon our observations and experiences, unpacking and reflecting upon values and challenges at stake when qualitative studies are included in Ph.D. theses. Hypotheses to explain these observations are presented, followed by suggestions for standards of evaluation and improvement of Ph.D. programs. The authors conclude that multimethod Ph.D. theses should be encouraged in general practice research, in order to offer future researchers an appropriate toolbox.

Are Patients Ready for "EARLYSTIM"? Attitudes towards Deep Brain Stimulation among Female and Male Patients with Moderately Advanced Parkinson's Disease.

Objective. To explore, in female and male patients with medically treated, moderately advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), their knowledge and reasoning about Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). Methods. 23 patients with PD (10 women), aged 46-70, were interviewed at a mean of 8 years after diagnosis, with open-ended questions concerning their reflections and considerations about DBS. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed according to the difference and similarity technique in Grounded Theory. Results. From the patients' narratives, the core category "Processing DBS: balancing symptoms, fears and hopes" was established. The patients were knowledgeable about DBS and expressed cautious and well considered attitudes towards its outcome but did not consider themselves ill enough to undergo DBS. They were aware of its potential side-effects. They considered DBS as the last option when oral medication is no longer sufficient. There was no difference between men and women in their reasoning and attitudes towards DBS. Conclusion. This study suggests that knowledge about the pros and cons of DBS exists among PD patients and that they have a cautious attitude towards DBS. Our patients did not seem to endorse an earlier implementation of DBS, and they considered that it should be the last resort when really needed.

Experiences of the gender climate in clinical training - a focus group study among Swedish medical students.

BACKGROUND: Research shows that medical education is characterized by unequal conditions for women and men, but there is a lack of qualitative studies investigating the social processes that enable and maintain gender inequalities that include both male and female students. In this focus group study, we therefore explored male as well as female medical students' experiences of the gender climate - i.e., how beliefs, values, and norms about gender were communicated - during clinical training and how the students dealt with these experiences. METHODS: Focus group interviews were conducted with 24 medical students (nine men) at Umeå University, Sweden. The interviews were structured around personal experiences in clinical training where the participants perceived that gender had mattered. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The students described gender-stereotyped expectations, discriminatory treatment, compliments, comments, and demeaning jargon. Female students gave more personal and varied examples than the men. The students' ways of handling their experiences were marked by efforts to fit in, for example, by adapting their appearance and partaking in the prevailing jargon. They felt dependent on supervisors and staff, and due to fear of repercussions they kept silent and avoided unpleasant situations and people rather than challenging humiliating jargon or supervisors who were behaving badly. CONCLUSIONS: Everyday communication of gender beliefs combined with students' adaptation to stereotyped expectations and discrimination came across as fundamental features through which unequal conditions for male and female students are reproduced and maintained in the clinic. Because they are in a dependent position, it is often difficult for students to challenge problematic gender attitudes. The main responsibility for improvements, therefore, lies with medical school leadership who need to provide students and supervisors with knowledge about gendered processes, discrimination, and sexism and to organize reflection groups about the gender climate in order to improve students' opportunities to discuss their experiences, and hopefully find ways to protest and actively demand change.

Swedish women's food habits during pregnancy up to six months post-partum: A longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: Diet influences the health of the foetus and the woman during pregnancy and later in life. It is therefore important to investigate pregnant women's food habits. The aim of this study was to describe women's food habits during pregnancy and up to six months post-partum. STUDY DESIGN: A Food Frequency Questionnaire (VIP-FFQ) was distributed to 163 pregnant women on five occasions during and after pregnancy. Data were analysed using Friedman's ANOVA and a Bonferroni post-hoc test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Food habits in relation to the National Food Agency's (NFA) food index. RESULTS: The pregnant women's diets were inadequate according to the NFA food index. A tendency towards an even poorer diet after delivery was identified, something which was related to an increased intake of discretionary food, e.g. sweets, cakes, cookies, crisps, ice cream, and decreased intake of fruit and vegetable. The alcohol consumption was low throughout. CONCLUSIONS: The food habits during pregnancy were inadequate compared to recommendations and these habits became unhealthier after delivery. These suggest that dietary counselling needs to be more effective and continued into the lactating period. An increased focus should be given to healthy eating from the life course perspective, not just focus on effects on the foetus and pregnancy outcomes.

Doubly blind: a systematic review of gender in randomised controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Although observational data show social characteristics such as gender or socio-economic status to be strong predictors of health, their impact is seldom investigated in randomised controlled studies (RCTs). OBJECTIVE & DESIGN: Using a random sample of recent RCTs from high-impact journals, we examined how the most often recorded social characteristic, sex/gender, is considered in design, analysis, and interpretation. Of 712 RCTs published from September 2008 to 31 December 2013 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal, Lancet, Canadian Medical Association Journal, or New England Journal of Medicine, we randomly selected 57 to analyse funding, methods, number of centres, documentation of social circumstances, inclusion/exclusion criteria, proportions of women/men, and reporting about sex/gender in analyses and discussion. RESULTS: Participants' sex was recorded in most studies (52/57). Thirty-nine percent included men and women approximately equally. Overrepresentation of men in 43% of studies without explicit exclusions for women suggested interference in selection processes. The minority of studies that did analyse sex/gender differences (22%) did not discuss or reflect upon these, or dismissed significant findings. Two studies reinforced traditional beliefs about women's roles, finding no impact of breastfeeding on infant health but nevertheless reporting possible benefits. Questionable methods such as changing protocols mid-study, having undefined exclusion criteria, allowing local researchers to remove participants from studies, and suggesting possible benefit where none was found were evident, particularly in industry-funded research. CONCLUSIONS: Social characteristics like sex/gender remain hidden from analyses and interpretation in RCTs, with loss of information and embedding of error all along the path from design to interpretation, and therefore, to uptake in clinical practice. Our results suggest that to broaden external validity, in particular, more refined trial designs and analyses that account for sex/gender and other social characteristics are needed.

The meanings given to gender in studies on multimodal rehabilitation for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain - a literature review.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess and describe the meanings given to "gender" in scientific publications that evaluate multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or multimodal rehabilitation for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. METHOD: A systematic literature search for papers evaluating multimodal rehabilitation was conducted. The PubMed and EBSCO databases were searched from 1995 to 2015. Two or three researchers independently read each paper, performed a quality assessment and coded meanings of gender using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-seven papers were included in the review. Gender was used very differently in the MMR studies investigated but primarily it referred to factual differences between men and women. Only one paper provided a definition of the concept of gender and how it had been used in that study. In the content analysis, the meaning of gender formed three categories: "Gender as a factual difference", "The man is the ideal" and "Gender as a result of social role expectations". CONCLUSIONS: The meaning of the concept of gender in multimodal rehabilitation is undefined and needs to be developed further. The way the concept is used should be defined in the design and evaluation of multimodal rehabilitation in future studies. Implications for rehabilitation Healthcare professionals should reflect on gender relations in encounters with patients, selection of patients into rehabilitation programs and design of programs. In rehabilitation for chronic pain the patients' social circumstances and cultural context should be given the same consideration as biological sex and pain symptoms.

What does age-comparative self-rated health measure? A cross-sectional study from the Northern Sweden MONICA Project.

AIMS: Self-rated health comprehensively accounts for many health domains. Using self-ratings and a knowledge of associations with health domains might help personnel in the health care sector to understand reports of ill health. The aim of this paper was to investigate associations between age-comparative self-rated health and disease, risk factors, emotions and psychosocial factors in a general population. METHODS: We based our study on population-based cross-sectional surveys performed in 1999, 2004 and 2009 in northern Sweden. Participants were 25-74 years of age and 5314 of the 7500 people invited completed the survey. Comparative self-rated health was measured on a three-grade ordinal scale by the question 'How would you assess your general health condition compared to persons of your own age?' with the alternatives 'better', 'worse' or 'similar'. The independent variables were sex, age, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, self-reported myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes, physical activity, smoking, risk of unemployment, satisfaction with economic situation, anxiety and depressive emotions, education and Karasek scale of working conditions. Odds ratios using ordinal regression were calculated. RESULTS: Age, sex, stroke, myocardial infarction, diabetes, body mass index, physical activity, economic satisfaction, anxiety and depressive emotions were associated with comparative self-rated health. The risk of unemployment, a tense work situation and educational level were also associated with comparative self-rated health, although they were considerably weaker when adjusted for the the other variables. Anxiety, depressive emotions, low economic satisfaction and a tense work situation were common in the population. CONCLUSIONS: Emotions and economic satisfaction were associated with comparative self-rated health as well as some medical variables. Utilization of the knowledge of these associations in health care should be further investigated.

GPs asking patients to self-rate their health: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: In epidemiological research, self-rated health is an independent predictor of mortality, cardiovascular diseases, and other critical outcomes. It is recommended for clinical use, but research is lacking. AIM: To investigate what happens in consultations when the question 'How would you assess your general health compared with others your own age?' is posed. DESIGN AND SETTING: Authentic consultations with GPs at health centres in Sweden. METHOD: Thirty-three planned visits concerning diabetes, pain, or undiagnosed symptoms were voice-recorded. Dialogue regarding self-rated health was transcribed verbatim and analysed using a systematic text condensation method. Speaking time of patients and doctors was measured and the doctors' assessment of the value of the question was documented in a short questionnaire. RESULTS: Two overarching themes are used to describe patients' responses to the question. First, there was an immediate reaction, often expressing strong emotions, setting the tone of the dialogue and influencing the continued conversation. This was followed by reflection regarding their functional ability, management of illnesses and risks, and/or situation in life. The GPs maintained an attitude of active listening. They sometimes reported a slight increase in consultation time or feeling disturbed by the question, but mostly judged it as valuable, shedding additional light on the patients' situation and making it easier to discuss difficulties and resources. The patients' speaking time increased noticeably during this part of the consultation. CONCLUSION: Asking patients to comparatively self-rate their health is an effective tool in general practice.

Women's relative immunity to the socio-economic health gradient: artifact or real?

BACKGROUND: Individual and area socio-economic status (SES) are significant predictors of morbidity and mortality in developed and developing countries. However, the span in health from poorest to richest, that is, the socio-economic gradient, appears steeper for men than women. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to understand women's apparent immunity to the health harms of the SES gradient. DESIGN: Findings from a non-systematic search of Medline for population-based, SES gradient studies reporting results for both men and women and with health outcomes of morbidity, mortality or self-rated health (SRH) were reflectively analyzed. RESULTS: The 36 papers reviewed generally showed women to be relatively immune to the SES gradient for all but cardiovascular health outcomes. However, addressing the interconnected nature of socio-economic circumstances, exploring whether some measures of SES had ambiguous meanings for either women or men, including modifiers of SES such as household circumstances, social capital or area gender equity, or using indicators of area SES that were contextual rather than aggregates of individual, compositional measures increased the SES gradient for women. Outcome measures that combined mental and physical health, accounted for gender differences in SRH and adjusted for sex-specific differences in causes of mortality also explained some of the observed amelioration of the SES gradient among women. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic circumstances have a real and sustained impact on individual health. The SES gradient appears stronger for men than for women for all health outcomes other than heart disease. However, some of the observed variability between men and women may be an artifact of biased methodology. Considering webs of causation rather than individual markers of SES along with other sources of gender bias can explain much of women's blunted socio-economic gradient and deepen understanding of the pathways from SES to morbidity and mortality overall.

A questioned authority meets well-informed pregnant women--a qualitative study examining how midwives perceive their role in dietary counselling.

BACKGROUND: During pregnancy and afterward, a healthy diet is beneficial for the expecting mother and her foetus. Midwives in antenatal care have an ideal position for promoting healthy diets. Dietary counselling is however complex and recommendations can be controversial. While pregnant women struggle with dietary recommendations, midwives struggle with a lack of authority. The aim of the study was therefore to describe how midwives perceive their role and their significance in dietary counselling of pregnant women. METHODS: An interview study was conducted that involved twenty-one (21) experienced midwives, who worked in the Swedish prenatal health care. A qualitative content analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Pregnant women were perceived to be well informed, but they needed guidance to interpret information on the Internet. They were described as rigorous and eager information seekers who needed guidance to interpret information as they were worried and emotional. The midwives saw themselves as a questioned authority who lacked support. This meant being informative and directive though not always updated or listened to. Their impact was uncertain and they could also lack sufficient competence to counsel in delicate issues. CONCLUSION: The midwives' directive role may obstruct the women's needs to manage the dietary recommendations and risk evaluation in a women-centred dialogue. Midwives need to acknowledge pregnant women as both well informed and skilled if they are going to develop woman-centred antenatal care. Ongoing training and self-reflection will be needed to make this change.

Gender differences in prevalence and associations for use of CAM in a large population study.

BACKGROUND: Self-reported use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) varies widely from 10% to 75% in the general populations worldwide. When limited to use of a CAM provider 2% to 49% reported use is found. CAM use is believed to be closely associated with socio demographic variables such as gender, age, education, income and health complaints. However, studies have only occasionally differentiated CAM use according to gender. Therefore, the aim of the study presented here is to describe the prevalence of CAM use on the background of gender and to describe the specific characteristics of male and female users in the total Tromsø 6 population. METHODS: A total of 12,982 men and women aged 30-87 in the municipality of Tromsø, Norway went through a health screening program and completed two self-administered questionnaires in 2007/2008. The questionnaires were developed specifically for the Tromsø study and included questions about life style and health issues in addition to socio demographic variables. RESULTS: A total of 33% of the participants reported use of any CAM within the last 12 months, women more often than men (42% and 24%, respectively). When limited to visits to a CAM provider, we found 17% use among women and 8% among men. The relationship between the demographic variables and being a CAM user differed significantly between men and women with regard to age, household income, and marital status. We did not find significant differences between men and women concerning education and self-reported health. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study suggest that the prevalence and associations for use of CAM differ between men and women concerning several socio demographic variables (age, education and household income). Neglect of women's health care needs in public health care may contribute to the fact that women to a higher degree than men turn to CAM and CAM products.

Speciality preferences in Dutch medical students influenced by their anticipation on family responsibilities.

Physician gender is associated with differences in the male-to-female ratio between specialities and with preferred working hours. We explored how graduating students' sex or full-time or part-time preference influences their speciality choice, taking work-life issues into account. Graduating medical students at Radboud University Medical Centre, the Netherlands participated in a survey (2008-2012) on career considerations. Logistic regression tested the influence of sex or working hour preference on speciality choice and whether work-life issues mediate. Of the responding students (N = 1,050, response rate 83, 73.3 % women), men preferred full-time work, whereas women equally opted for part time. More men chose surgery, more women family medicine. A full-time preference was associated with a preference for surgery, internal medicine and neurology, a part-time preference with psychiatry and family medicine. Both male and female students anticipated that foremost the career of women will be negatively influenced by family life. A full-time preference was associated with an expectation of equality in career opportunities or with a less ambitious partner whose career would affect family life. This increased the likelihood of a choice for surgery and reduced the preference for family medicine among female students. Gender specifically plays an important role in female graduates' speciality choice making, through considerations on career prospects and family responsibilities.

Reported dietary intake in early pregnant compared to non-pregnant women - a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: A woman's nutritional status before conception and during pregnancy is important for maternal health and the health of the foetus. The aim of the study was to compare diet intake in early pregnant women with non-pregnant women. METHODS: Between September 2006 and March 2009, 226 women in early pregnancy were consecutively recruited at five antenatal clinics in Northern Sweden. Referent women (n = 211) were randomly selected from a current health screening project running in the same region (the Västerbotten Intervention Program; VIP). We collected diet data with a self-reported validated food frequency questionnaire with 66 food items/food aggregates, and information on portion size, alcohol consumption, and supplement intake. Data were analysed using descriptive, comparative statistics and multivariate partial least square modelling. RESULTS: Intake of folate and vitamin D from foods was generally low for both groups. Intake of folate and vitamin D supplements was generally high in the pregnant group and led to significantly higher total estimated intake of vitamin D and folate in the pregnant group. Iron intake from foods tended to be lower in pregnant women although iron supplement intake evened out the difference with respect to iron intake from foods only. Energy intake was slightly lower in pregnant women but not significant, a reflection of that they reported consuming significantly less of potatoes/rice/pasta, meat/fish, and vegetables (grams/day) than the women in the referent group. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, women in early pregnancy reported less intake of vegetables, potatoes, meat, and alcohol than non-pregnant women. As they also had a low intake (below the Nordic Nutritional Recommendations) of folate, vitamin D, and iron from foods, some of these women and their unborn children are possibly at risk for adverse effects on the pregnancy and birth outcome.