6 March, 2014

Female doctors do more housekeeping and parenting than male doctors

Researchers who studied a group of motivated physician-academics have uncovered gender differences in the amount of time spent on parenting and household tasks, suggesting a reason for why female academic physicians overall do not have the same career success as their male counterparts.

The researchers, led by Dr. Reshma Jagsi of the University of Michigan Health System, have published their results in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

They surveyed over 1,000 motivated people with a medical degree who had received career development awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The physicians were asked questions that determined how they divided their time and what their family responsibilities entailed.

Results show that, of physicians who were married, men were four times more likely to have a spouse who was either not employed or who only worked part-time. Additionally, of physicians who were married with children, men worked 7 hours longer and spent 12 fewer hours on household tasks and parenting every week, compared with the women.

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Jagsi, who is also associate professor of radiation oncology at the university, says:


"One might expect that within a highly educated Generation X population there would be a relatively even distribution of domestic labor. But what we found was that there still seems to be a difference in the expectations at home for men and women, even for those with very busy jobs, even today."

She adds that some of these differences could be explained by "the ability of male physicians to still support the traditional breadwinner model of a family." She cites their finding that most of the female participants were married to spouses who worked full-time, while most of the male participants had spouses who worked part-time or not at all.

Female doctors spend 8.5 more hours each week on parenting and housework, compared with their male counterparts.

After the researchers accounted for spouse employment and other factors, they found that married women with children still spent 8.5 more hours on parenting and housework than the males did.

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com           06.03.2014

Being a college athlete affects quality of life in later years

An Indiana University study found that elite college athletes -- typically the picture of health and vitality -- often struggle to stay active in later years, facing limitations to their day-to-day activities in middle age that could be a result of injuries during their athletic career.

Lead investigator Janet Simon, a doctoral candidate in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington's Department of Kinesiology, said researchers have long known that compared to non-athletes, college athletes experience more severe injuries -- and long-term effects of those injuries. She was surprised, however, with her findings that the former elite athletes also scored worse on depression, fatigue and sleep scales.

Her study -- which focused on Division I athletes, considered the most competitive college athletes -- was published in theAmerican Journal of Sports Medicine.

"Division I athletes may sacrifice their future health-related quality of life for their brief athletic career in college," Simon said. "Also, when comparing former Division I athletes, non-athletes who were physically active in college and the general U.S. population, it appears that, in rank order of the three groups, non-athletes who were recreationally active in college had better health-related quality of life scores, followed by the general U.S. population. This may be because former Division I athletes sustain more injuries and possibly more severe injuries due to the rigor of their sport."

Here are more findings from the study, which analyzed questionnaires completed by 232 male and female former Division I athletes and 225 male and female non-collegiate athletes. The study participants were between 40 and 65 years old, and their scores were compared to a representative sample of the U.S. population in the same age range:

§  Former Division I athletes were more than twice as likely as non-athletes to report physical activity limitations to daily activities and exercise.

§  67 percent of the athletes reported sustaining a major injury and 50 percent reported chronic injuries, compared to 28 percent and 26 percent respectively for non-athletes.

§  70 percent of athletes reported practicing or performing with an injury, compared to 33 percent on non-athletes.

§  40 percent of athletes reported being diagnosed with osteoarthritis after college compared to 24 percent of the non-athletes. Osteoarthritis has been linked to previous joint injuries.

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com          

06.03.2014

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