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I've divided this page into two sections. The first provides you with
some
tips on searching for material on Medline, and the second provides
links
to other Australian and overseas web resources, including some full text report and journal literature.
Searching Medline
Remember that Medline has a Thesaurus of terms - MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in Medline. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information where authors may use different terminology for the same concepts.
There are certain areas of reproductive health and illness which are
obviously
restricted to women, but I want to deal here with other health issues
for
women, where searching Medline is more complex.
Below are
some examples of the language Medline uses to describe the concepts in
this field.
MeSH - Female
This thesaurus term is also called a check tag. Further down the page I have included an example of how it may be used in a search. Check tags used by Medline are listed below. These check tags must be enetered by an indexer for every journal article citation to which they apply
Animal
Case Report
Comparative Study
English Abstract
Female
Human
In Vitro
Male
Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH - Maternal Health Services
MeSH - Women
Human adult females as cultural, psychological, sociological, political, and economic entities. More specific subcategories are:
Battered Women
Dentists, Women
Physicians, Women
Women, Working
MeSH - Women's Health
MeSH - Women's Health Services
MeSH - Women's Rights
Many topics in MeSH have hierarchies of more specific subcategories or related terms. The indentations in the lists reflect
the
structure of the hierarchy, and the + signs at the end of terms
indicate
that there is a further hierarchy of terms not displayed here. Any of
these
terms can be searched individually, or you can "explode" terms to
search
sections of the list.
Try using the search structure below to search for articles on
cardiovascular
disease in women
COMBINE
Cardiovascular Disease (MeSH term)
AND
Female (MeSH term)
NOT
Male (MeSH term)
PubMed Search Formulation
cardiovascular disease[majr:noexp] AND
female[mh]
NOT male[mh] AND english[lang]
This search strategy uses the headings cardiovascular
disease,
female,
and male. The section in the square brackets includes
majr - which focuses the search on articles where the
subject
is a major issue in the article. PubMed's default is to "explode" all
terms,
and as I don't want articles on specific types of cardiovascular
disease,
but only on cardiovascular disease generally I've added noexp
to
stop the explosion. The next part of the strategy specifies that the
search
should apply to females and not males, as only articles which refer to
women are wanted NOT articles which refer to both men and
women.
The search is then limited to articles which are in English or which
have
English abstracts.
Click here to see how it works. PubMed
Search.
This search would have dramatically different results if the
thesaurus
term "women" was substituted for "female"
cardiovascular disease[majr:noexp] AND
women[mh]
NOT male[mh] AND english[lang]
Click here to see how it works. PubMed
Search.
Australian Sources
Health Report - Women's Health
Transcripts from Radio National's Health Report, with Norman Swan.
 National
Health and Medical Research Council. Publications. Women's Health
The full text of many publications is available online in .pdf format.
Perinatal
Health List (AIHW)
Full text is available for most publications.
Publications by topic - Women's health
From the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Women's
Health Australia
Women's Health Australia is part of the Research Institute for Gender
and Health at the University of Newcastle. The Australian Longitudinal
Study on Women's Health is designed to follow women for up to 20 years
and will address serious gaps in knowledge about women's health.
Overseas Sources
bmj.com
Collected
Resources : Other Women's health - other
CDC Health
Topic:
Women's Health
A collection of resources from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in the United States.
Confidential
Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH). Publications
CEMACH is a
self governing
body managed by its own board with members nominated by six Royal
Colleges in the U.K.
Ending
Violence Against
Women, Population Reports, Series L, Number 11
Heise, L., Ellsberg, M. and Gottemoeller, M. Ending Violence Against
Women. Population Reports, Series L, No. 11. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins
University
School of Public Health, Population Information Program, December 1999.
Full
Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence
Against
Women...
By Patricia Tjaden, and Nancy Thoennes, this research report contains
findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington,
D.C.,
Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, November 2000.
Girl and
Adolescent Health
The U.S.Department of health and Human Services' Office on Women's
health includes a page for girls and adolescents. it has links to a
number
of specialist pages such as the Girl
Power! Campaign , 4Girls --
Health Information for Girls. , and Powerful
Bones. Powerful Girls. The National Bone Health Campaign.
Global
Reproductive Health Forum: Maternal Health
This web site is maintained by the Harvard School of Public Health.
It
includes mailing lists, Web sites, and electronic publications.
Hardin
MD :
Womens Health & Gynecology (ObGyn)
Links to web directories that list resources in this area.
Health
Care
Information Resources -- Women's Health Problems Links
A useful collection of links from the Health Sciences Library at
McMaster
University.
Health
Concerns Across a Woman's Life span: CMWF 1998 Survey of Women's Health
Published by the Commonwealth Fund this report, based on the research
findings of a recent survey on women's health, highlights key findings
derived from survey questions that examined "access to care, health
knowledge,
health-related behaviors, violence, depression, use of hormone
replacement
therapy, and informal caregiving roles." The full
report is available as a .pdf file as are the accompanying charts
Health
Information
for Minority Women
A special section of the National Women's Health Information
Center web site.
In Her
Lifetime: Female
Morbidity and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa
Christopher P. Howson, Polly F. Harrison, and Maureen Law
Editors;
Committee to Study Female Morbidity and Mortality in SubSaharan Africa,
Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National Academy Press, 1996.
In Her Own
Right: The
Institute of Medicine's Guide to Women's Health Issues
By Beryl Lieff Benderly for the Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C.,
National Academy Press, 1997.
MedlinePlus:
Women's Health Issues
MedlinePlus:
Women's Health Topics
MEDLINEplus is the National Library of Medicine's consumer health
information
portal. Lists of links are evaluated/reviewed/quality-filtered.
Men's Health
I know this seems an anomaly, but it's the National Women's Health
Information Center section on men's health.
National Women's Health
Information
Center
The National Women's Health Information Center is a service of the
U.S. Public Health Service’s Office on Women’s Health. The NWHIC
provides
a gateway to the vast array of Federal and other women’s health
information
resources.
A
New Agenda for Women's Health and Nutrition
Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1994 (reprinted 1997)
Powerful Bones.
Powerful
Girls. The National Bone Health Campaign.
Quality
of Care for Women
Quality of Care for Women: A Review of Selected Clinical Conditions
and Quality Indicators. Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Eve A. Kerr, Cheryl L.
Damberg,
and Stephen M. Asch Editors. A RAND research publication. MR-1284-HCFA,
2000.
Reproductive Health Gateway
RH Gateway is a project of the Health Information Publications Network
(HIPnet). It is
managed by the Johns Hopkins University/Center for Communication
Programs
(JHU/CCP).
ReproLine(r):
Reproductive Health
Online -- family planning, training, contraception, mastery learning
website
ReproLine was developed by JHPIEGO, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins
University.
JHPIEGO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of
women and families throughout the world, works to increase the number
of
qualified health professionals trained in modern reproductive
healthcare,
especially family planning.
Safety of
Silicone Breast
Implants
Stuart Bondurant, Virginia Ernster, and Roger Herdman, Editors;
Committee
on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants, Institute of Medicine.
Washington
D.C., National Academy Press, 2000.
There is also a second publication, the aim of which is to make the
information contained in the report listed above available to women who
have, or who are considering, breast implants. Information
for Women about the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants
The
Unmet Need
for Contraception in Developing Countries
This is a RAND policy brief.
Women and
Health Research:
Ethical and Legal Issues of Including Women in Clinical Studies. Vol 1
and Women and Health
Research:
Ethical and Legal Issues of Including Women in Clinical Studies. Vol 2,
Workshop and Commissioned Papers
Anna C. Mastroianni, Ruth Faden, and Daniel Federman, Editors;
Committee
on Ethical and Legal Issues Relating to the Inclusion of Women in
Clinical Studies, Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National
Academy
Press, 1994
Women of
Color
Health Data Book
This book is a publication of the Office of Research on Women’s Health
which addresses specifically, the role of culture, ethnicity, race,
socioeconomic
background, geographic location, and other social and economic factors
as important contributors to the health status of coloured women in the
United States. It was prepared by Wihelmina A. Leigh, Ph.D. (Senior
Research
Associate) and Malinda A. Lindquist (Research Assistant) of the Joint
Center
for Political and Economic Studies.
Women with
Disabilities
From the National Women's Health Information Center in the U.S.
Women's
health (Bandolier Library)
Bandolier is a print and Internet journal about health care, using
evidence-based medicine techniques to provide advice about particular
treatments
or diseases for healthcare professionals and consumers.
Women's Health
Resources and
Related Internet Links - Canadian Women's Health Network
A useful set of annotated links from the Canadian Women's Health
Network.
Women's Health Specialist Library
One of a collection of specialist libraries for the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) in the U.K.
Women's
Health Surveillance: A Plan of Action for Health Canada; A Report from
the Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance
Produced by Health Canada, 1999.
Women's Human
Rights
Resources
I've included this link as the site has a database of resources
including
documents relating to women's health issues.
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