This is one of a few recently published books that have been intended to serve primary care physicians as resources for women's health care. How useful is such a text? Is it more or less comprehensive than a traditional internal medicine text? Is it worth my investment?

Careful comparison with an internal medicine text showed that for diseases specific to or more common in women, Primary Care of Women is more comprehensive and has a more practical format. For example, it presents interesting data on the relation of depression to female hormones, and it contrasts the increased rate of depression in married women with the decreased rate in married men. It includes a patient evaluation section with excellent guidelines for comprehensive history taking; this is totally missing from the internal medicine text. Although treatment guidelines are similar in the two books, psychotherapy and the guidelines for referral are better addressed in Primary Care of Women. Psychiatric topics are well covered in general and include eating disorders, anxiety and panic disorders, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and sexual dysfunction.

Both books have similar endocrinologic reviews of hirsutism, but again, Primary Care of Women has a clinician's practical approach to assessment and work-up. Comparison showed that Primary Care of Women has an excellent discussion of the relation between migraine headaches and female hormones that is missing from the internal medicine text and lengthier sections on the treatment and complications of migraine headaches.

Primary Care of Women discusses gynecologic topics of use to the generalist, such as ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and infertility. These subjects are well handled medically, and the psychosocial components so important in these areas are included. A section on sports medicine for women adds another topic that is helpful to the generalist but that is not covered in internal medicine texts.

In general, the subjects addressed are those one would expect to see in a book about women's health. I was surprised and disappointed to find that some diseases known to be more common in women were left out: multiple sclerosis and lupus erythematosus are not covered, but asthma and liver disease are.

This new resource is a good investment. It is a useful, practical, and comprehensive text for the busy generalist who embraces the current biopsychosocial mode of practice.