Latest News

Some of the news articles below may show only part of the news story. To view the full story, click on Read More below the story. 

  • January 12, 2017 10:10 AM | Deleted user

    The US Preventive Services Task Force updates their 2008 recommendation on primary care interventions to promote breastfeeding. You can access the full article here.


  • January 12, 2017 10:09 AM | Deleted user

    US House of Representatives passed HR 315, Improving Access to Maternity Care Act, which seeks to improve overall access to women’s health care providers and to identify geographic areas where there are shortages of these providers. You can track the progress of this bill through the Senate and President’s office here.



  • January 11, 2017 9:42 AM | Deleted user

    Human papillomavirus (HPV) can infect the tonsillar tissues of the oropharynx and is associated with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. This article provides an overview to guide primary care providers in screening patients for oropharyngeal cancer and making appropriate referrals. The article also reviews available HPV vaccines and immunization adherence rates.

    Read the full article in JAAPA here

  • January 09, 2017 9:02 AM | Deleted user

    THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2017 -- A drug commonly prescribed to ease the nausea of morning sickness may not be as effective as once believed, a new analysis suggests.

    Diclectin has been prescribed for millions of pregnant women for years. But an unpublished study from the 1970s used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada to approve the drug may have overstated its benefits, the Canadian researchers behind the new research said.

    Study co-author Dr. Nav Persaud, a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said the earlier study's data about the effectiveness of Diclectin is shaky at best.

    "We found two main problems with the [unpublished] study. Data was missing for 31 percent of participants. There are questions about the integrity of the data," Persaud said.

    "The approval and prescribing of this medication are based on this study. The decision to approve this medication should be revisited. The prescribing of the medication should be revisited," Persaud added.

    However, one gynecologist who has been prescribing Diclectin for years thinks the new analysis adds nothing new about the drug's effectiveness.

    "Women prescribed Diclectin should not be worried," said Dr. Mitchell Kramer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital, in New York.

    "The comments about the study are of no value," he said. "They will not alter my use of Diclectin, nor would I recommend people use this critique as a guideline."

    Another gynecologist was less strident.

    "The safety of Diclectin has been established, but there is a question about efficiency, so more studies are needed," said Dr. Jennifer Wu. She is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

    According to Kramer, the two ingredients in Diclectin are pyridoxine, which is vitamin B6, and doxylamine, a sleep aid found in the over-the-counter medicine Unisom.

    "Diclectin is very safe and effective for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy," he said.

    The most common side effect is fatigue or sleepiness, but most people tolerate it very well, he said. "We prefer using it over some of the other anti-nausea medications," he added.

    Kramer said he doesn't think new trials are needed, but a well-done study that shows which drug is most effective for morning sickness would be welcome and helpful.

    However, Wu also noted that Diclectin is an expensive drug.

    "Patients say it's over $100, and they complain about the cost. Some patients take vitamin B6 and Unisom separately. We need to know why the cost is so high when each component is so inexpensive," she said.

    In the analysis, Persaud and his colleague, Dr. Rujun Zhang, also from St. Michael's Hospital, contend that the original study was deeply flawed, which may be why it was never published in a medical journal.

    The Canadian researchers reviewed 36,000 pages of documents from the FDA, including the original study and a summary of the results. The investigators also obtained other documents from Health Canada through freedom of information requests.

    The original trial was done in 14 U.S. clinics among more than 2,300 women who experienced morning sickness during their first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

    The women were randomly assigned to eight groups, one of which was given a placebo and the other seven a variety of drugs, including Diclectin.

    Data from nearly 1,600 women was analyzed. More women rated the drugs as moderate or excellent, compared with those given a placebo. For Diclectin, 14 percent gave it a moderate or excellent rating.

    But Persaud said the 1970s study is rife with problems.

    For example, the final results are not available, and many women did not complete the trial, even though it lasted only one week.

    Another flaw, according to Persaud, is that outcomes are unavailable for 37 percent of women in the placebo group used as the basis for comparisons with the active drugs.

    Also, the method that doctors used to score morning sickness symptoms was not clear, he said.

    Persaud said he could not contact any of the original researchers, and many of them had died.

    The original study was conducted by the now shuttered Merrell-National Laboratories.

    Persaud's team published their analysis online Jan. 4 in PLOS One.

    More information

    Visit the American Pregnancy Association for more on morning sickness.

    Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


  • January 06, 2017 10:07 AM | Deleted user

    HealthDay News — For high-risk women, letrozole is more effective than aspirin for decreasing the incidence of moderate and severe early-onset ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, according to a study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

    Qingyun Mai, MD, PhD, from the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues compared the efficacy of letrozole with aspirin in primary prevention of early ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in a prospective randomized trial. Data were included for 238 participants undergoing cryopreservation of the whole embryos after oocyte retrieval with at least one high-risk factor for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. After human chorionic gonadotropin triggering, experimental and control groups (119 participants in each) received five days of letrozole and aspirin. 

    The researchers found that women receiving aspirin versus letrozole had significantly higher incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (90.2 versus 80.4%, respectively). The aspirin group also had significantly higher incidence of moderate and severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (45.1 versus 25.0%). Compared with the aspirin group, the letrozole group had a significantly shortened duration of the luteal phase (8.1 ± 1.1 days versus 10.5 ± 1.9 days). The letrozole group had a significantly higher vascular endothelial growth factor level than the aspirin group (0.49 ± 0.26 versus 0.42 ± 0.22).

    "Letrozole was more effective than aspirin in decreasing the incidence of moderate and severe early-onset ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome," the authors write.

    Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

    Original Post: MPR

  • January 03, 2017 11:23 AM | Deleted user

    Cresta Jones, MD will provide a live educational webinar on February 21, 2017. 

    APAOG Members: Be sure you are logged in to receive the member rate!

    Topic: Opiate use disorders and women’s health

    Learning Objectives:

    • Understand the significance of the opiate use disorder crisis in the United States as it applies to women’s health
    • Identify the pregnancy complications associated with opiate use disorder and chronic opiate use
    • Describe the treatment options for opiate use disorder in pregnancy
    • Understand the basic symptoms and treatment of neonatal opiate withdrawal syndrome


  • December 29, 2016 12:40 PM | Deleted user

    The awards process is the single most important means that APAOG has for recognizing PAs who have made significant contributions in women's health. Awards can be nominated at any time throughout the course of the year, but will be presented at the APAOG Reception at the AAPA National Conference (more information to come). 

    2017 Awards - Nominations due March 15, 2017!

    View the 2017 Awards Grid for full award details.

    • Preceptor Award

    • Outstanding PA in Women's Health Award
    • Student Award

    Questions concerning the awards process should be submitted to APAOG@badgerbay.co


  • December 20, 2016 9:11 AM | Deleted user
    Dec. 8, 2016

    On December 7, the Senate followed the House of Representatives and passed the 21st Century Cures Act by an overwhelming majority. The bipartisan bill will now be sent to President Obama who has said he will sign the measure into law. The legislation will accelerate Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatments, therapies, and drugs by modernizing FDA regulations considered by Congress to unnecessarily delay the approval of new drugs and devices. Additionally, the legislation provides $4.8 billion to the National Institutes of Health which covers support for the president’s Precision Medicine Initiative to drive research on the effects of genetics, lifestyle, and environment on disease, as well as support for Vice President Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative and increased research to improve understanding of diseases affecting the brain, such as Alzheimer’s. The bill also provides $1 billion in grants to states to combat opioid addiction and addresses the country’s mental health crisis.

    The role of PAs in mental healthcare is acknowledged for the first time in federal mental health policy through key mental health provisions of the soon-to-be law, such as:

    • Inclusion of PAs as high-need providers in mental healthcare through a required mental health strategic plan;
    • Including PAs who specialize in mental healthcare as members of advisory councils authorized by the Public Health Service Act;
    • Adding PAs with experience in treating serious mental illnesses or serious emotional disturbances as potential committee members to a federal Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee;
    • Strengthening the mental and substance use disorders workforce by awarding grants to eligible entities to support training for PAs and other providers to offer integrated primary care, mental health, and substance use disorder treatment services in underserved areas; and
    • Requiring the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to identify model programs and materials for training PAs and other healthcare providers on permitted uses and disclosures of health information when caring for patients with mental illnesses.

    AAPA continues to seek clarification that PAs are also included in legislative provisions on peer review, mental and behavioral health education and training grants, the minority fellowship program, and increasing access to pediatric mental healthcare.

    Mental health system reforms passed by the House in July through the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act were also part of the bill's package. In addition to strengthening the mental health workforce, these provisions are intended to reform the nation’s mental health delivery system by establishing a new assistant secretary for mental health within the HHS; creating a system to award grants based on evidence-based mental health and substance use treatment policy; evaluating privacy law to improve mental health treatment through increased communication among providers, families, and patients; and improving care for children and adults with serious behavioral and mental illness.

    AAPA worked closely with relevant House and Senate committees and members throughout the development of the mental health provisions in the bill, educating them on the interface of PAs in primary and other medical care with patients experiencing behavioral health issues, the increasing number of PAs who provide mental healthcare , and the valuable role of PAs in building the behavioral healthcare workforce.

    Read AAPA article here.

  • December 19, 2016 12:13 PM | Deleted user

    HealthDay News 
    Zika's ability to damage the infant brain may be even more far-reaching and insidious than previously thought, two new studies suggest. Analyzing data from the U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry, researchers found that among 442 women possibly infected with Zika, 6 percent had infants with one or more birth defects related to Zika. Among women infected in the first trimester, 11 percent had fetuses or infants with birth defects. The 18 infants who developed microcephaly accounted for 4 percent of the infants with birth defects.

    READ MORE


  • December 19, 2016 12:09 PM | Deleted user

    In a study published in Diabetes Care, researchers reported that the absolute risk of thromboembolism among women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes using hormonal contraceptives was low. Researchers conducted a study to evaluate the safety of hormonal contraception with regard to thromboembolic events in women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. They analyzed data from 2002-2011 in the Clinformatics Data Mart to identify women in the U.S. aged 14-44 years old with an ICD-9-CM code for diabetes and a prescription for a diabetic drug or device.

    READ MORE




Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software