Women's Health News

Can mentoring relationships help female students who survive childhood abuse or domestic violence? Absolutely, according to new research from Concordia University, published in the Journal of College Student Development...

According to an investigation published on bmj.com, hip fractures are 35% more likely to occur in post-menopausal women if they take indigestion medications, known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). This figure rises to 50% if the women are former or current smokers. Globally, PPIs are one of the most prevalent drugs used, and are often used to treat acid reflex and heartburn...

Breast cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, says that dropping Planned Parenthood from its granting process is not political, and says it is "dismayed and extremely disappointed" that its action has been mischaracterized. The charity says it has taken actions to make its granting process stronger and more effective, resulting in Planned Parenthood being dropped from its list of grantees...

PPIs (proton pump inhibitors), medications taken for indigestion, can raise the risk of hip fractures by 35% in post-menopausal women, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). The authors added that women who smoke or used to smoke have a 50% higher risk of hip fractures when taking PPIs...

Over one million packets of birth control pills have been recalled by Pfizer, as a result of an error with the packaging that runs the risk of women getting pregnant. Around half the packets carry the brand name Lo/Ovral-28, while the rest were generic norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol tablets...

Repeated screening by flexible sigmoidoscopy (FSG) increased the detection of colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma in women by one-fourth and in men by one-third, according to a study published Jan. 31 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute...

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that a molecule critical to the development and plasticity of nerve cells - brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - is severely lacking in brainstem neurons in mutations leading to Rett syndrome, a neurological developmental disorder...

Britons appear to be tightening their belts in more ways than one: 2011 audit figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) revealed on Monday that the number of men undergoing tummy tucks (abdominoplasty) was 15% higher than in 2010...

Having diabetes may cause women to experience a greater degree of hearing loss as they age, especially if the metabolic disorder is not well controlled with medication, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit...

Researchers at the National Institute of Health, along with other institutions, have released a study online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stating that Asian women have higher estrogen levels when drinking 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day. This is about 2 cups of coffee...

For the first time in Germany, a woman has given birth to a child after removal and preservation of tissue from one of her ovaries. This course of action was necessary to avoid infertility owing to chemo- and radiotherapy. Andreas Müller and his colleagues report the case in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109[1-2]: 8-13)...

Survivors of Hurricane Katrina have struggled with poor mental health for years after the storm, according to a new study of low-income mothers in the New Orleans area. The study's lead author, Christina Paxson of Princeton University, said that the results were a departure from other surveys both in the design and the results...

Human skin is the body's first line of defense and often mirrors the health, nutritional status and age of a person. Over time, skin shows signs of aging due to the gradual breakdown of collagen and elastin. However, skin can be rebuilt and made healthier no matter one's age...

A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. "We think this finding about pets can apply to women managing other chronic illnesses," said Allison R...

Women report more-intense pain than men in virtually every disease category, according to Stanford University School of Medicine investigators who mined a huge collection of electronic medical records to establish the broad gender difference to a high level of statistical significance...

Working mothers may be busy, but they like it that way. A recent study of employed moms finds that most would work even if they didn't have to, but they're also looking for new ways to negotiate the demands of mothering and the pressures to be an "ideal" employee...

Women's emotional responses can vary significantly premenstrually. They may become depressed or grumpy during menstruation or the premenstrual phase, known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Roughly 75% of reproductive-age women report premenstrual mood swings or physical discomfort...

The idea that men suffer more when in pain than women could well be a myth, according to a new report written by Stanford University researchers in the Journal of Pain. The authors say that their large study found that even though women are able to endure childbirth, an ordeal that males never have to go through, their findings showed that overall, males appear to endure pain better than women...

Grandmothers and other senior female family members should play a key role in nutrition and health programmes for children and women in non-Western societies. However, they are often overlooked by health organisations that don't understand the importance of their role or see them as an obstacle to promoting good nutrition and health practices...

Research conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center global health investigators and cancer specialists in New York, Qatar and Haiti suggests that aspirin should be evaluated for its ability to prevent development of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women...

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and other organizations have recommended that women ages 65 and older be routinely screened for osteoporosis using bone mineral density (BMD) screening. However, how often women should be screened is a topic that remains controversial and undecided, with no definitive scientific evidence to provide guidance. Now a new study led by Margaret L...

More than 250,000 hip fractures occur every year in the U.S., often resulting in hospitalization, surgery, nursing-home admission, long-term disability, and/or extended periods of rehabilitation...

In the United States, painful periods (Dysmenorrhoea) are estimated to cause 600 million lost working hours and cost two billion dollars in lost productivity...

A large Scandinavian study that has been running for 30 years has finally provided convincing evidence that the combined oral contraceptive pill does, indeed, alleviate the symptoms of painful menstrual periods - dysmenorrhoea. The research is published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]...