Side Effects, Physical Health Consequences, and Mortality Associated with Abortion and Birth after an Unwanted Pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION: The safety of abortion in the United States has been documented extensively. In the context of unwanted pregnancy, however, there are few data comparing the health consequences of having an abortion versus carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. METHODS: We examine and compare the self-reported physical health consequences after birth and abortion among participants of the Turnaway Study, which recruited women seeking abortions at 30 clinics across the United States. We also investigate and report maternal mortality among all women enrolled in the study. RESULTS: In our study sample, women who gave birth reported potentially life-threatening complications, such as eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage, whereas those having abortions did not. Women who gave birth reported the need to limit physical activity for a period of time three times longer than that reported by women who received abortions. Among all women enrolled in the Turnaway Study, one maternal death was identified-one woman who had been denied an abortion died from a condition that confers a higher risk of death among pregnant women. CONCLUSION: These results reinforce the existing data on the safety of induced abortion when compared with childbirth, and highlight the risk of serious morbidity and mortality associated with childbirth after unwanted pregnancy.

Implementing a prospective study of women seeking abortion in the United States: understanding and overcoming barriers to recruitment.

BACKGROUND: The Turnaway Study is designed to prospectively study the outcomes of women who sought-but did not all obtain-abortions. This design permits more accurate inferences about the health consequences of abortion for women, but requires the recruitment of a large number of women from remote health care facilities to a study a sensitive topic. This paper explores the Turnaway Study's recruitment process. METHODS: From 2008 to 2010, the staff at 30 abortion-providing facilities recruited eligible female patients. Eight interventions were evaluated using multilevel logistic regression for their impact on eligible patients being approached, approached patients agreeing to go through informed consent by phone, and enrolled patients completing the baseline interview. FINDINGS: After site visits, patients had roughly twice the odds of being approached by facility staff and twice the odds of then agreeing to go through informed consent. When all recruitment steps were considered together, the net effect of site visits was to increase the odds that eligible patients participated by nearly a factor of six. After the introduction of a patient gift card incentive, patients had over three times the odds of agreeing to go through informed consent. With each passing month, however, staff demonstrated a 9% reduced odds of approaching eligible patients about the study. CONCLUSION: Prioritizing scientific rigor over the convenience of using existing datasets, the Turnaway Study confronted recruitment challenges common to medical practice-based studies and unique to sensitive services. Visiting sites and communicating frequently with facility staff, as well as offering incentives to patients to hear more about the study before informed consent, may help to increase participation in prospective health studies and facilitate evaluation of sensitive women's health services.

Pregnancy options counseling for adolescents: overcoming barriers to care and preserving preference.

Current clinical guidelines for counseling adolescent patients about their pregnancy options fail to give concrete suggestions for how to begin and hold conversations that support patient autonomy, provide accurate and unbiased information, and address barriers to care. Recent research suggests that relative to adult women, adolescents are at increased risk of being denied abortion because they present beyond facilities' gestational age limits. Counseling that neglects to address the structural and developmental challenges that adolescents face when seeking care may contribute to the risk of abortion denial as well as subsequent delays in prenatal care. The task of providing non-directive, patient-centered, evidence-based pregnancy options counseling to an adolescent while ensuring that she receives her chosen course of care in a timely manner is challenging. This article presents a shared decision-making framework and specific suggestions for healthcare providers to support adolescent patients in coming to their decision about whether to continue or terminate an unplanned pregnancy and access follow-up care within the current sociopolitical environment.

Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) as a biomarker of alcohol consumption in HIV-positive patients in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol is heavily consumed in sub-Saharan Africa and affects HIV transmission and treatment and is difficult to measure. Our goal was to examine the test characteristics of a direct metabolite of alcohol consumption, phosphatidylethanol (PEth). METHODS: Persons infected with HIV were recruited from a large HIV clinic in southwestern Uganda. We conducted surveys and breath alcohol concentration (BRAC) testing at 21 daily home or drinking establishment visits, and blood was collected on day 21 (n = 77). PEth in whole blood was compared with prior 7-, 14-, and 21-day alcohol consumption. RESULTS: (i) The receiver operator characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) was highest for PEth versus any consumption over the prior 21 days (0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86 to 0.97). The sensitivity for any detectable PEth was 88.0% (95% CI: 76.0 to 95.6) and the specificity was 88.5% (95% CI: 69.8 to 97.6). (ii) The ROC-AUC of PEth versus any 21-day alcohol consumption did not vary with age, body mass index, CD4 cell count, hepatitis B virus infection, and antiretroviral therapy status, but was higher for men compared with women (p = 0.03). (iii) PEth measurements were correlated with several measures of alcohol consumption, including number of drinking days in the prior 21 days (Spearman r = 0.74, p < 0.001) and BRAC (r = 0.75, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The data add support to the body of evidence for PEth as a useful marker of alcohol consumption with high ROC-AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. Future studies should further address the period and level of alcohol consumption for which PEth is detectable.

Late-disease stage at presentation to an HIV clinic in the era of free antiretroviral therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Access to free antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa has been steadily increasing, and the success of large-scale antiretroviral therapy programs depends on early initiation of HIV care. However, little is known about the stage at which those infected with HIV present for treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of initial visits to the Immune Suppression Syndrome Clinic of the Mbarara University Teaching Hospital, including patients who had their initial visit between February 2007 and February 2008 (N = 2311). RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 33 years (range 16-81 years), and 64% were female. More than one third (40%) were categorized as late presenters, that is, World Health Organization disease stage 3 or 4. Male gender, age 46-60 years (vs. younger), lower education level, being unemployed, living in a household with others, being unmarried, and lack of spousal HIV status disclosure were independently associated with late presentation, whereas being pregnant, having young children, and consuming alcohol in the prior year were associated with early presentation. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted public health interventions to facilitate earlier entry into HIV care are needed, as well as additional study to determine whether late presentation is due to delays in testing vs. delays in accessing care.

Mentoring the next generation of HIV prevention researchers: a model mentoring program at the University of California San Francisco and Gladstone Institute of Immunology and Virology Center for AIDS research.

PURPOSE: Mentoring is critical to develop and nurture early career investigators, helping them to succeed in building networks of colleagues, and is especially important for investigators focused on HIV research. We piloted a multidiscipline mentoring program targeting postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty concentrating on HIV/AIDS research. METHOD: The pilot mentoring program was conducted at the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at the University of California San Francisco and the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology. Mentees were self-referred postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty. Mentors were drawn from the senior faculty. Early career mentees were matched with senior investigators for individual meetings, a monthly workshop on topics directed by the mentees, and single-day mentoring seminars. RESULTS: More than 30 mentees and 20 mentors have participated in the pilot project. Most mentees reported that the 1-on-1 mentoring was a satisfying experience. The most highly valued activities were those that facilitated networking among mentees, networking between mentors and mentees, and workshops that focused on grant applications and first academic appointments and promotions. CONCLUSIONS: A multidisciplinary mentoring program for postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty focused on HIV/AIDS research is valuable. Umbrella organizations, such as the CFAR, are well suited to create and provide highly valued mentoring experiences.

SEXINFO: a sexual health text messaging service for San Francisco youth.

In response to rising gonorrhea rates among African American youth in San Francisco, Calif, Internet Sexuality Information Services, Inc, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, developed SEXINFO, a sexual health text messaging service. SEXINFO is an information and referral service that can be accessed by texting "SEXINFO" to a 5-digit number from any wireless phone. A consortium of community organizations, religious groups, and health agencies assisted with identifying culturally appropriate local referral services. We conducted focus group sessions among youth aged 15 to 19 years to discuss the viability of the service. Usage of the service has been greater than expected, and an initial evaluation to assess the impact of SEXINFO on increasing access to sexual health services among at-risk adolescents has had promising results.