Washington: Concerns about weight gain may be driving contraception choices, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Women who are overweight or obese are less likely than normal-weight women to use the birth control pill and other hormonal contraceptive methods.

  Adelaide: Research led by the University of Adelaide has found that women whose babies are conceived in winter are more likely to develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, increasing a range of risk factors for both child and mother.

San Diego: The average age of a woman giving birth for the first time has risen dramatically over the past 40 years, driven by factors like education or career. A new study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that women choosing to become first-time mothers later in life may increase their chances of living into their 90s. The study, published recently in American Journal of Public Health, is the first to look at age at first childbirth in relation to longevity. The researchers found an association between a woman’s age at childbirth and parity (the number of times a woman has been pregnant) with survival to age 90. “We found that women who had their first child at age 25 or older were more likely to live to age 90,” said Aladdin Shadyab, lead author of the study with the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “The findings indicate that women with two to four term pregnancies compared with a single term pregnancy were also more likely to live at least nine decades.” Of the approximately 20,000 participants in the study, 54 percent of women survived to 90 years old. The participants were part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a national longitudinal investigation of women that began in 1991. The women were followed for up to 21 years. The study also found that women who lived to age 90 were more likely to be college graduates, married, have a higher income and less likely to be obese or have a history of chronic disease. “Our findings do not suggest that women should delay having a child, as the risk of obstetric complications, including gestational diabetes and hypertension, is higher with older maternal ages. It is possible that surviving a pregnancy at an older age may be an indicator of good overall health, and as a result, a higher likelihood of longevity,” said Shadyab. “It is also possible that women who were older when they had their first child were of a higher social and economic status, and therefore, were more likely to live longer.” Shadyab said further research is needed to determine which social factors might explain associations of age at first childbirth and parity with longevity. “Our findings have several public health implications,” said Shadyab. “We hope this is a foundation to help identify targets for future interventions among women in the preconception and family planning phases of their lives, which may improve women’s healthy longevity in the long term.”

Montreal: The nature of a woman’s orgasm has been a source of debate for over a century. Since the Victorian era, the pendulum has swung from the vagina to the clitoris, and to some extent back again.

New York: Painful sex in women after cancer treatment is relatively common, often treatable and needs to be addressed by medical providers, a UC Davis oncologist and researcher suggests.

Birmingham: When 35-year-old Michelle Simmons scheduled her yearly checkup with her primary care physician earlier this year, she asked a question that may have saved her life.

  Heavy drinking frequently causes liver inflammation and injury, and fatty acids (FAs) involved in pro- and anti-inflammatory responses could play a critical role in these processes. This study evaluated heavy drinking and changes in levels of omega-6 (ω-6, pro-inflammatory) and omega-3 (ω-3, anti-inflammatory) FAs in alcohol dependent (AD) patients who showed no clinical signs of liver injury.

Seattle: A tiny hair barrette and an anguished moment marked the turning point for one mother in coming to fully accept that her child, who was born a boy, was a transgender girl.

Los Angeles: Asian women living in Los Angeles County are experiencing more breast cancer now than they faced nearly four decades ago, according to a recently released cancer report card administered by USC.

Dublin: A new study by academics in Trinity College Dublin has found that there is a strong positive relationship between planned birth at home and breast feeding: breastfeeding was twice as likely after planned home births compared to hospital births. The research involved the largest population cohorts comprehensively examined to date for an association between breast feeding outcomes and place of birth in low risk pregnancies.