Infertility was associated with mental health, especially dysthymia and anxiety. The results differed by gender and the permanency of infertility. Gender-specific psychosocial support and follow-up for infertile people is warranted.

BackgroundAn automated dose dispensing (ADD) service has been implemented in primary healthcare in some European countries. In this service, regularly used medicines are machine-packed into unit-dose bags for each time of administration. The aim of this study is to review the evidence for ADD’s influence on the appropriateness of medication use, medication safety, and costs in primary healthcare.MethodsA literature search was performed in April 2012 in the most relevant databases (n = 10), including the Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library. The reference lists of the studies selected were manually searched. A study was included in the review if the study was conducted in primary healthcare or nursing home settings and medicines were dispensed in unit-dose bags.ResultsOut of 328 abstracts, seven studies met the inclusion and reporting quality criteria, but none applied a randomized controlled study design. Of the four controlled studies, one was a national register-based study. It showed that the patient group in the ADD scheme more often used three or more psychotropic drugs and anticholinergics than patients using the standard dispensing procedure, while women in the ADD group used less long-acting benzodiazepines and both genders had fewer drug-drug interactions. In another, regional controlled study, the ADD group consisted of patients with higher risk of inappropriate drug use, according to all indicators applied. The third controlled study indicated that ADD user drug treatments were more likely to remain unchanged than in patients using a standard dispensing procedure. A controlled study from Norway showed that ADD reduced discrepancies in the documentation of patient medication records. Costs were not investigated in any of the studies.ConclusionsA very limited number of controlled studies have explored ADD in primary healthcare. Consequently, the evidence for ADD’s influence on appropriateness and safety of medication use is limited and lacking in information on costs. The findings of this review suggest that patients using the ADD have more inappropriate drugs in their regimens, and that ADD may improve medication safety in terms of reducing the discrepancies in medication records. Further evidence is needed to draw sound conclusions on ADD’s outcomes.

In general, Finns were positive toward the setting up of a national biobank, as well as public-private partnerships, even though they considered their knowledge of biobanking to be limited. This, however, did not mean that they were indifferent to the use of their samples, but most wanted the ability to control how their samples are used.

Objective: To study the impact of sociodemographic, financial, and reproductive factors and of characteristics related to intimate relationships on the decisions of women in different age groups about whether or not to continue an unintended pregnancy. Design: Cross sectional population based survey. Setting: Telephone interview survey between September 2000 and January 2001 in France. From a representative sample (n=14 704) of 18 to 44 year old women, those who in the past five years had an abortion or whose last pregnancy was unintended were oversampled (sampling fraction=100%, n=1034) while the other women were randomly selected (sampling fraction =19%, n=1829). Altogether, 2863 women answered the questionnaire. Participants: All women whose last pregnancy was unintended and ended in induced abortion or birth (n=645). Main results: Factors associated with the abortion decision varied strongly according to age. Younger women's abortion decisions were mainly related to being a student and being single. Wanting to stop childbearing when the desired number of children was achieved best explained the decision to have an abortion among 25 to 34 year old women. Older women chose abortion especially when childbearing did not fit their work situation or when the relationship with the partner was unstable. A high level of education of a woman and her partner increased the likelihood of abortion, especially among young women. Conclusions: The impact of socioeconomic and relationship factors on the decision to have an abortion is not the same at different stages in life, and refers to the social representations and perceptions of what good conditions are for being a mother. E ven in countries where contraception is commonly used and easily available, the number of unintended pregnancies remains high.1 A large proportion of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion. According to a population based survey from the United States, 2 54% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion (27% of all pregnancies). In Eastern Europe 57% of all pregnancies end in abortion, and the figure is 21% for the rest of Europe.1 In France, abortion rates are on an average level for Europe; there are about 3 induced abortions for every 10 live births.3 According to a 1988 national survey, nearly 40% of pregnancies in France are unintended. 4 Reproductive preferences and behaviour vary with socioeconomic and demographic factors. Underlying the evident causes for abortion, a desire to postpone or to stop childbearing, are other factors that can have different kinds of impact on different subgroups of women. In the developed countries, most abortions are performed for a variety of social reasons. Marital status and parity are important when abortion decisions are made 5 as are issues of studies or work, financial problems, single parenthood and problems in the relationship, immaturity, and unsuitable life situation 6-10 Usually women give more than one reason for terminating a pregnancy, reflecting the multidimensional nature of the situation. Ther...

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