Quick Study

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

CIRCUMCISION

Procedure may not guard against sexually transmitted diseases.

THE QUESTION Does circumcision help protect a man from developing a sexually transmitted disease (STD)?

THIS STUDY analyzed data on 499 men; 201 had been circumcised before age 3. By age 32, 117 of the men reported that they'd had a sexually transmitted infection, most often genital warts, chlamydia or genital herpes. The infection rate was virtually the same -- about 23 percent -- whether men had or had not been circumcised as a child.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? Men. In the United States, about 65 percent of all boy babies are circumcised, meaning the skin that covers the tip of the penis is surgically removed. The decision often is based on cultural or religious views or personal preference rather than medical necessity.

CAVEATS Data on STDs came from questionnaires completed by the men. The authors wrote that other research has provided "compelling evidence" that circumcision lowers the risk of men's contracting HIV infection through sex with women.

FIND THIS STUDY March issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

LEARN MORE ABOUT circumcision at http://www.familydoctor.org and http://www.kidshealth.org (click "For Parents").

PREMATURITY

Early birth appears to have some effects that extend into adulthood.

THE QUESTION Babies born before they've been in the womb 37 weeks face a higher risk of complications very early in life. As they grow up, though, do people born prematurely continue to exhibit differences from those carried full-term?

THIS STUDY analyzed data on more than a million people born in Norway during a 20-year period; about 5 percent were premature births. The more premature the infants had been, the more likely they were to have died before turning 1 year old. Survival rates improved through late childhood but remained lower, by comparison, for those born prematurely. As teens and young adults, those who'd been premature were more likely to have attained less than a high school education and less likely to have gone to college than those who'd been full-term babies. Adults who'd been premature infants also were less likely to have had children of their own. And women who'd been premature were more likely, once pregnant, to have given birth prematurely than were women born at full term; prematurity did not affect men's chances of fathering a premature infant.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? People born prematurely. In the United States, more than 12 percent of babies are premature, a rate that has been steadily increasing over the past two decades.

CAVEATS The cause of the premature births was not indicated. The findings might be different for babies born today, given medical and technological advances in the 40 years since the study began.

FIND THIS STUDY March 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

LEARN MORE ABOUT premature births at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/womenshealth (search for "preterm") and http://www.marchofdimes.com.

-- Linda Searing

The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals. Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study. Anyone considering changing or beginning treatment of any kind should consult with a physician.