[Partner violence and women's health]. / La violencia de pareja y la salud de las mujeres.

The World Health Organization declared violence against women to be a Public Health priority due to its magnitude. This problem affects in Spain one out of seven women, as shown by the 1999 survey conducted by the Instituto de la Mujer, and causes more than fifty annual deaths. The purpose of this essay is to review causes of violence against women and its consequences in health as well as the impact in medical services. The authors analyse the difficulties in systematic recognition of abused women and their neglect, despite the high prevalence, by health care professionals from open care and emergency services. In addition, measures undertaken by Health Authorities in recent years are reviewed. A set of recommendations aimed to eradicate violence against women is given, including those for social, health and research policies and health-professionals education and training.

Lipoprotein(a) and cardiovascular risk factors in a cohort of 6-year-old children. The Rivas-Vaciamadrid Study.

UNLABELLED: We have studied the distribution of lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) and its relation to lipid profiles and a family history of cardiovascular disease in grandparents in a cohort of 673 6-year-old Spanish children. Lp(a) levels were highly skewed, showed no differences between sexes and had no relevant relations with anthropometric variables. When compared with children without a family history of stroke, children with a family history of this disorder showed significantly higher levels of Lp(a) (median 13 mg/dl, range 2-110 mg/dl versus 9 mg/dl, range 2-120 mg/dl, P=0.02). Also the percentage of children with a family history of stroke was higher in the group of children with Lp(a) levels above 30 mg/dl than in the group who exhibited lower levels (20.9% versus 10.4%, P=0.002). Children with a family history of coronary heart disease had higher levels of Lp(a) than children without such history (median 14 mg/dl, range 2-120 mg/dl versus 8 mg/dl, range 2-62 mg/dl, P=0.03). Finally, when compared with children with Lp(a) levels <30 mg/dl, those with Lp(a) levels above 30 mg/dl showed significantly higher mean levels of total cholesterol (174.9 versus 169.4 mg/dl, P<0.05), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (109.1 versus 102.4 mg/dl, P<0.05), and apolipoprotein B (81.9 versus 74.6 mg/dl, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study shows the existence of an association between high levels of lipoprotein (a) in 6 year-old children and a family history of both cerebrovascular and coronary disease in grandparents. High levels of lipoprotein (a) were also associated with high levels of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B.