The Medical Management of AIDS in Women CMAJ 1997;157:788 © Canadian Medical Association Edited by Deborah Cotton, D. Heather Watts. 466 pp. Illust. Wiley­Liss, New York. 1997. Distributed in Canada by the CMA. $121.95 ($103.95, members). ISBN 0-471-07674-0 [ How to order this book ] Overall rating: Good Strengths: Excellent coverage of gynecologic and obstetric aspects of HIV/AIDS; good sections on STDs and drug abuse Weaknesses: Little on psychosocial or psychiatric aspects Audience: Physicians who care for patients with HIV/AIDS There is much of importance here from editors Deborah Cotton, who is with the Infectious Disease Unit of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Heather Watts, who is with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington. The book covers the biology, immunology, clinical manifestations and treatment of HIV disease and its complications. The sections on obstetrics and gynecology and the one on STDs are particularly good. A more specific focus on the manifestations and complications of HIV relevant to women and on the differences between infection in men and in women would have been useful. Sections on general aspects of HIV infection could be abbreviated. There are some unfortunate omissions, the most prominent of which is the lack of a section on the psychosocial aspects of HIV infection. It would have been useful to expand on the socioeconomic aspects, the high level of domestic abuse associated with HIV infection and the relative power position of women in both prevention and management. Also, there is no section dealing with psychiatric illness, which, in my experience, is a major issue with many patients. The section on primary care management of patients with HIV does not mention any of these problems and delivers what is essentially the "biomedical model" eschewed by the editors in their preface. These deficiencies are in part mitigated by an excellent section on management of drug abuse in HIV-infected women, which is a major emerging problem. The style is fairly uniform and quite readable. Information and references are as up to date as is reasonable in a rapidly moving field. The book contains essential knowledge, but is rather expensive. A number of studies on treatment of HIV in women are under way. This text could be shortened and, therefore, the price much reduced, by omitting most of the material that is available in general textbooks and by making the focus even more specific to women. Peter M. Ford, MB Department of Medicine Queen's University Kingston, Ont. Send a letter to the editor responding to this article Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ September 15, 1997 (vol 157, no 6) / JAMC le 15 septembre 1997 (vol 157, no 6) |