Women's Health News

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Breast cancer screening effectiveness under scrutiny yet again

There has been a lot of debate regarding the effectiveness of breast cancer screening in the UK. It is being reviewed yet again. The NHS says screening saves lives, but other researchers have argued that it may cause more harm than good.

26 Oct 2011

One embryo is all it takes for a successful IVF: Study

Doctors practicing IVF often transferred multiple embryos to a woman’s body at once, in the hope that at least one of them would lead to a successful pregnancy. That changes now as a new study from researchers at the University of Iowa in Iowa City found that women who had only one embryo transferred during IVF didn’t have lower chances of getting pregnant, but they did have a lower risk of giving birth to twins than women who had multiple embryos transferred.

25 Oct 2011

Three dry days a week reduces risk of alcohol related liver disease

The Royal College of Physicians said the present official guidance on healthy drinking limits is ‘extremely dangerous’ and must be rewritten – because it implies that drinking every day is fine. Government advice states men should drink no more than four units a day and women no more than three.

24 Oct 2011

Invuity's illuminated breast retractor system helps surgeons to better visualize delicate structures

Invuity, a leading developer of state-of-the-art illuminated surgical technology, today introduced its illuminated breast retractor system at the American College of Surgeons' 97th Annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco.

24 Oct 2011

Tenofovir gel confirmed to be effective against herpes in lab experiment, study shows

Data from lab experiments published online by the journal Cell Host and Microbes last week show that the gel form of the antiretroviral tenofovir, which is being investigated as an HIV prevention method, works to inhibit the reproduction of herpes virus in tonsil and cervical tissue, the New York Times reports.

24 Oct 2011

Together for Girls Partnership works to end sexual violence

In this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby writes about the Together for Girls Partnership, an initiative that "generates a powerful advocacy platform to stop sexual violence by supporting countries' efforts to fully understand and cope with the scope of the epidemic."

24 Oct 2011

Gestational BPA exposure associated with behavior, emotional problems in young girls

Exposure in the womb to bisphenol A (BPA) - a chemical used to make plastic containers and other consumer goods - is associated with behavior and emotional problems in young girls, according to a study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center, and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.

24 Oct 2011

Women can benefit from breast reconstruction after mastectomy

After a mastectomy, women who undergo breast reconstruction with tissue from their own abdomen experience significant gains in psychological, social, and sexual wellbeing as soon as three weeks after surgery.

24 Oct 2011

Women hospital staff working night shifts may face increased risk of heart disease

Women hospital staff working night shifts may be compromising their own health as they try to improve the health of patients, Dr. Joan Tranmer told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

24 Oct 2011

NSAID may lower risk of death from colorectal cancer among postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who reported having used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for at least 10 years at the time of enrollment in the Women's Health Initiative study had a lower risk for death from colorectal cancer compared with women who reported no use of these drugs at enrollment, according to data presented at the 10th AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, held Oct. 22-25, 2011.

24 Oct 2011

Weight gain during adulthood may increase risk of endometrial cancer in women

Postmenopausal women who gained weight during adulthood had an increased risk for endometrial cancer compared with women who maintained a stable weight, according to data from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort.

24 Oct 2011

Learning about politics in the midst of screening recommendations

The recent recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that women get less frequent screenings for cervical cancer demonstrated a remarkably different response than other such recommendations.

22 Oct 2011

Three major patterns emerge among couples dealing with male depression

University of British Columbia researchers have identified three major patterns that emerge among couples dealing with male depression. These can be described as "trading places," "business as usual" and "edgy tensions."

22 Oct 2011

Urban environments and women's health

Women's Health and the World's Cities (Penn Press 2011) explores the relationships of urban environments and women's health worldwide, a topic expected to grow in importance in the coming decades.

22 Oct 2011

New sleepwear now available for post-surgery breast cancer patients

For breast cancer patients, surgery is often the first line of treatment. Following surgery, patients must deal not only with the healing process, but also with lasting after effects such as scarring, skin sensitivity and body asymmetry. A new line of sleepwear now available to breast cancer survivors is the result of an ongoing research partnership between Ryerson University and Princess Margaret Hospital that examines how the side effects of surgery and treatment affect women's physical comfort, confidence and sexuality.

22 Oct 2011

Indiana, Planned Parenthood in court on Medicaid funding; Wis. bill to prohibit abortion in private insurance

Lawyers for the state tried for a second time Thursday to convince a federal court that Indiana's law defunding Planned Parenthood should go into effect immediately and not be delayed until after a judge rules on a lawsuit challenging the law. ... Planned Parenthood is arguing that the legislature's April vote to cut off Medicaid funding to providers that offer abortions runs afoul of federal Medicaid law, which forbids the state from picking and choosing where Medicaid patients can receive services.

22 Oct 2011

World's largest study of the fear of childbirth

A few women are so afraid of giving birth that they avoid becoming pregnant or seek an abortion, even though they want to have children. This fear is related to several serious conditions such as prolonged labour, a greater need for pain relief during labour and an increased risk of an emergency C-section.

21 Oct 2011

AHRQ: Only 8.7M of 12.1M women suffering from chronic pain received treatment in 2008

An estimated 12.1 million women age 18 and older reported suffering from chronic pain in 2008 as a result of underlying medical conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia and vulvodynia. Of these women, only 8.7 million reported receiving treatment that year at a total cost of $12.9 billion, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

21 Oct 2011

Blood test can help assess severity of preeclampsia in pregnant woman

A blood test can help to assess whether a pregnant woman who suffers from pregnancy-induced hypertension, so-called preeclampsia, is at risk for an imminent delivery.

21 Oct 2011

Studies find less vitamin D intake among menopausal women

A healthy diet is especially important during the menopause - a period in which the risk of suffering from health problems increases. Various studies analyse the diet of peri- and postmenopausal women in Spain alongside the troubles that come with this transition. The results show that all of those groups studied have a deficient intake of vitamin D.

21 Oct 2011