Women's Health Snapshots: Mammograms and HIV Prevention

The timing of a woman's mammogram may affect the test's accuracy. Increased breast density increases the likelihood of false mammogram readings. Younger women tend to have more highly dense breasts, a possible reason for the lowered efficacy of mammograms in women under 50. In a recent study of premenopausal women aged 40-49, breast tissue was found to vary with the menstrual cycle. It was less dense in the first two weeks of the cycle (follicular phase) than the last two weeks (Meal phase). Premenopausal women in their forties may thus obtain more accurate mammograms if they are scheduled during the first two weeks of their menstrual cycle.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute June 17, 1998, p. 906-910

Here is further evidence of the need to spread the safer sex and HIV/AIDS prevention message! Only 60% of the 203 patients in a recent study who knew they were HIV-positive had shared the knowledge with every single sex partner they had. Women were more likely than men to discuss their HIV-infection, and Latinos and Caucasians were three times as likely as African-Americans to raise the subject. Of the 40% of folks who didn't always reveal their HIV-positive status, only 42% used condoms consistently and half hadn't told their primary partner. The study warns that partners of HIV-infected persons continue to be at risk for contracting the disease.
Archives of Internal Medicine February 9, 1998, pages 253-257.