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Women don’t need annual pelvic exams, a large group of primary-care doctors says. The American College of Physicians (ACP) says there is no good evidence that the exams provide a benefit. But the group does endorse regular screening tests for cervical cancer. These tests are recommended every 3 to 5 years. The new guideline applies to average women who are not pregnant and do not have symptoms of a problem. Pelvic exams are intended to look for infections, cancers and other problems in the reproductive organs. But research doesn’t show that these exams are any good at finding these problems, an ACP committee found. Three studies on ovarian cancer found that pelvic exams did not help to detect it. One of the studies found that 1.5% of women ended up having surgery they did not need. Several studies looked at harms from regular pelvic exams.

About 2 out of 3 Americans over age 40 have done little or no planning for long-term care, a new survey finds. Only one-quarter even believe they’ll need help, although about half have cared for an older friend or relative themselves. The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research did the survey. Most people polled said family or friends would help them if needed. But 6 out of 10 have not talked with them about it. About 7 out of 10 U.S. adults need some sort of long-term care after age 65. This may be given by a relative or in assisted living or a nursing home. On average, the care lasts about 3 years. More than one-third of those surveyed said, mistakenly, that Medicare pays for nursing home care. Medicare pays only for a short time, after a hospital stay. Medicaid, the government health insurance for the poor, pays for most long-term care in the United States.

Middle school students who send and receive sexually explicit messages (sexts) are also more likely to be having sex, a new study finds. The study included about 1,200 students in grades 6 through 8. Their ages ranged from 10 to 15. Most were 12 or 13. They filled out questionnaires about phone use and sex. About 3 out of 4 students had access to a phone that sent text messages. About 11% said they had ever had vaginal, oral or anal sex. Twenty percent said they had ever received a sext message or photo. About 5% said they had sent a sext. Students who had ever received a sext were 7 times as likely to report having sex as those who had not received a sext. Those who had sent a sext were 3 times as likely to report having sex as those who never sent one. Students who texted at least 100 times a day were nearly 5 times as likely to send a sext as those who texted less often.