Women who had their last child at age 33 years or older were more likely to reach extremes of longevity, according to an analysis published online June 23 in Menopause.
Women who had their last child when they were aged 33 to 37 years were twice as likely to reach the extreme fifth percentile of longevity compared with women who had their last child before that age.

"Prolonged fertility may be a marker of slower aging," write the authors, led by Fangui Sun, PhD, from the Department of Biostatistics at Boston University in Massachusetts. Previous studies, including some on historical data in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, had found that women who had their last children late in life tended to live longer and to have siblings who lived longer.

Dr. Sun and colleagues analyzed data from the Long Life Family Study, whose participants have multiple family members who have reached extremes of longevity. The population includes sets of siblings selected because of their collective longevity scores, along with their spouses and children. The families were recruited between 2006 and 2009 in Boston; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; New York City; and Denmark.

One hypothesis to account for the association between maternal age and longevity, write Dr. Sun and colleagues, is that women whose bodies use energy more efficiently are able to both avoid age-related diseases and have increased fertility. The authors suspect these women would also be more likely to have more children, but in this study, they found a nonsignificant association in the opposite direction: having 3 or more children decreased the likelihood of extreme longevity.

The authors note that twin studies have suggested that genetics only explain about 20% of variation in longevity but that the influence of genetics increases at older ages. In other words, environmental and behavioral factors may influence a person's likelihood of living to their mid-80s, but in the extremes of old age, genetics play more of a role. They suggest that studying the genetics of fertility may reveal genes that influence longevity.

The Long Life Family Study was funded by the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health.
Menopause. Published online June 23, 2014.

Yesterday, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that “requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom.” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. conceded that the government does have a “compelling interest in making sure women have access to contraception,” but that there are ways of providing that access without “violating the companies’ religious rights.”

Justice Ginsburg’s dissent put into words what many onlookers felt. Justice Ginsburg stated that requiring contraception coverage is vital to women’s health and reproductive freedom. Furthermore, Justice Ginsburg stated this may invite “for-profit entities to seek religious-based exemptions from regulations they deem offensive to their faiths,” including some medical procedures and drugs, vaccinations, and even blood transfusions—procedures which certain religions denounce. While there is no evidence yet to support this claim that corporations will begin splitting hairs over other medical procedures, it does raise important questions about where the line is drawn between business and religion.

Those who disagree with the Supreme Court decision state that requiring all insurance plans to include coverage for contraception improves not only public health, but also ensures that “women have equal access to health care services.” Therefore, this blow was particularly shocking. If other family-owned corporations follow this ruling, the cost for contraception coverage will likely become a barrier for many women. IUD’s, for instance, can coast more than $1,000 once medical exams, insertion, and follow-up visits are added—and it is likely that this may cost too much for some women to pay without insurance coverage.

While the full repercussions of this decision are not yet clear, it is important to develop protective measures that defend women’s healthcare and their access to a range of contraception options.

Source: The New York Times

Disturbing reports about mismanagement at the Veteran's Affairs (VA) medical centers had led to Congressional action.  One of our Leadership Council members at the Women's Health Research Institute, Melina R. Kibbe, MD, a vascular surgeon at the Feinberg School of Medicine and the Jesse Brown Veterans Medical Center in Chicago is a co author of a JAMA commentary that makes some well-thought out recommendations for change.  While outrage is running rampant, it's time for everyone to concentrate on fixing the system  that is critical to the men and women who defend our country.  To view the commentary, visit HERE.

Delinquency in youth predicts a significantly higher rate of violent death in adulthood -- especially from firearms -- and females are among the most vulnerable, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study.

Delinquent females died violently at nearly five times the rate of those in the general population, according to the study, while delinquent males died at three times general population rates.

Death rates in Hispanic males and females were five and nine times more than the general population rates, respectively.

This is the first large-scale study to look at death rates in delinquent females and adds new data on Hispanics, now the largest minority group in the U.S. The paper will be published June 16 in the journal Pediatrics.

In addition, violent death up to age 34 was predicted by three risk factors in adolescence: alcohol use disorder, selling drugs and gang involvement, according to the study.

"Our findings are shocking," said lead author Linda Teplin, the Owen L. Coon Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Death rates in our sample of delinquent youth, ages 15 to 19, are nearly twice those of troops in combat in wartime Iraq and Afghanistan."

Source:  Northwestern, Science Daily 6/16/2014.