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Biomedical subjects

Catherine M Bennett

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine M Bennett.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Relationship between hypoactive sexual desire disorder and aging.

OBJECTIVE: Explore the association between Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) and aging. The American Foundation of Urologic Disease and the American Psychiatric Association stipulate that HSDD is only diagnosed when both low sexual desire and sexually related personal distress are present. DESIGN: Community-based, cross-sectional study. SETTING: Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy) and the USA. PATIENT(S): Women aged 20-70 in sexual relationships participating in the Women's International Study of Health and Sexuality (n=1998 Europe, n=1591 USA). INTERVENTION(S): No interventions were administered. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-administered questionnaire that included two validated instruments: Profile of Female Sexual Function(c) measured sexual desire; Personal Distress Scale(c) measured sexual distress. Women with low desire and distress were considered to have HSDD. RESULTS: The proportion of European women with low desire increased from 11% amongst women aged 20-29 years to 53% amongst women aged 60-70 years. The proportion of American women with low desire displayed a trend towards an increase with age. In the 20-29 year age group 65% of European women and 67% of American women with low sexual desire were distressed by it. This decreased to 22% and 37%, respectively, in the 60-70 year age group. In Europe and the USA the prevalence of HSDD in the population did not change significantly with age (6-13% in Europe, 12-19% in the USA). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of women with low desire increased with age while the proportion of women distressed about their low desire decreased with age. Consequently, the prevalence of HSDD remained essentially constant with age. This may explain why no association between HSDD and age is often reported in the literature.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Atopic disease and breast-feeding--cause or consequence?

BACKGROUND: A number of studies have observed an association between breast-feeding and increased risk of development of asthma and eczema. It has been proposed that these results might be due to early signs of atopic disease in the infant causing mothers to prolong breast-feeding. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether early symptoms of atopic disease (eczema, food reaction, or asthma) or positive skin prick test responses reduce the likelihood of ceasing breast-feeding. METHODS: A prospective birth cohort of 620 infants from Melbourne, Australia, was used. Telephone interviews every 4 weeks were conducted until 64 weeks and then again at 78 and 104 weeks to determine duration of breast-feeding (both exclusive and total) and evidence of atopic disease. Because of the varying time of onset of atopic symptoms, they were modeled as time-varying covariates in Cox models. RESULTS: Only 52 (8.4%) infants did not establish breast-feeding, whereas an additional 103 (25.0%) did not establish exclusive breast-feeding. Early signs of atopic disease or sensitization were independently associated with an approximately 28% reduction in risk of ceasing exclusive breast-feeding (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.53-0.97); P=.029), but there was no evidence for a relationship with risk of ceasing breast-feeding completely (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.92-1.37; P=.262). CONCLUSION: Early signs of atopic disease might prolong the duration of exclusive breast-feeding. This could mask a protective effect of breast-feeding or even result in breast-feeding appearing to be a risk factor for the development of atopic diseases. Future investigation of the relationship between breast-feeding and atopic diseases should consider this possibility.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

What can prevalence studies tell us about female sexual difficulty and dysfunction?

INTRODUCTION: Many recent studies have investigated the prevalence of female sexual difficulty/dysfunction. AIM: Investigate female sexual difficulty/dysfunction using data from prevalence studies. METHODS: We reviewed published prevalence studies excluding those that had not included each category of sexual difficulty (desire, arousal, orgasm, and pain), were based on convenience sampling, or had a response rate <50% or a sample size <100. Main Outcome Measures. For each study we used the prevalence of any sexual difficulty as the denominator and calculated the proportion of women reporting each type of difficulty. For each category of sexual difficulty we used the prevalence of that difficulty lasting 1 month or more as the denominator and calculated the proportion of difficulties lasting several months or more and 6 months or more. RESULTS: Only 11 of 1,248 studies identified met our inclusion criteria. These studies used different measures of sexual dysfunction, so generating a simple summary prevalence was not possible. However, we observed consistent patterns in the published data. Among women with any sexual difficulty, on average, 64% (range 16-75%) experienced desire difficulty, 35% (range 16- 48%) experienced orgasm difficulty, 31% (range 12-64%) experienced arousal difficulty, and 26% (range 7-58%) experienced sexual pain. Of the sexual difficulties that occurred for 1 month or more in the previous year, 62-89% persisted for at least several months and 25-28% persisted for 6 months or more. Two studies investigated distress. Only a proportion of women with sexual difficulty were distressed by it (21-67%). CONCLUSIONS: Desire difficulty is the most common sexual difficulty experienced by women. While the majority of difficulties last for less than 6 months, up to a third persist for 6 months or more. Sexual difficulties do not always cause distress. Consequently, prevalence estimates will vary depending on the time frame specified by researchers and whether distress is included in these estimates.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Undiagnosed and potentially lethal parasite infections among immigrants and refugees in Australia.

Intestinal parasite infections are a major cause of ill health in many resource-poor countries. This study compares the types and rates of these infections and their risk factors in recently arrived and long-term immigrants in Australia. Cross-sectional surveys of 127 East African and 234 Cambodian immigrants and refugees were undertaken in 2000 and 2002, respectively, to assess the burden of intestinal parasites and collect demographic information. Serum samples were assessed for eosinophilia and Strongyloides stercoralis and Schistosoma antibodies, and feces examined for ova, cysts, and parasites. Intestinal parasites were identified in 77/117 fecal samples from East African and in 25/204 samples collected from Cambodian participants. Eleven percent (14/124) of East Africans and 42% (97/230) of Cambodians had positive or equivocal serology for S stercoralis. Schistosoma serology was positive or equivocal in 15% (19/124) of East African participants. Potentially serious intestinal parasite infections are common among recent and longer term immigrants despite multiple visits to health care providers. Immigrants and refugees from high-risk countries would benefit from comprehensive health checks soon after resettlement.

Adolescent↗