Women's Health

Mary Norine Walsh, MD, immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology, discusses the risks for pregnant women with hypertension.

Mary Norine Walsh, MD, immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology, discusses the cause of the recent increase in maternal mortality, and the importance of team-based care to address it.

While cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among women as well as men, and while both sex and gender differences in CVD and its treatments have been well documented, women continue to be less represented than men in clinical trials of drugs to treat CVD. Among proposed reasons for this phenomenon are the recruitment of younger patients, inclusion criteria that tend to select men, and exclusion criteria that are more common in women.

Even though her final stretch at the helm of Planned Parenthood was not easy, Cecile Richards told the nation's obstetricians she is optimistic because of the activism she sees among women and girls at the grassroots level. "Women are on fire," she said.

Women account for over 75% of Americans who experience migraines, which could be attributable to the way that estrogen levels affect cells in the brain, according to new study findings.

Humana has launched a new maternity bundled payment model with 5 practices in Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas to improve quality, outcomes, and cost across the entire perinatal episode of care for women with low- to moderate-risk pregnancies.

Christie’s Place, a nonprofit social service organization, puts a large focus on social determinants of health to help their clients not only keep up with their medical care, but also improve their quality of life.

The CDC reported recently that the percentage of privately insured reproductive-age women who filled a prescription for a medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) soared 344% from 2003 (0.9%) to 2015 (4.0%).

The authors observed a marked shift toward treatment of higher-risk subsets of younger postmenopausal women (with prior fracture and/or with osteoporosis), and away from women at lower risk.

Truly improving equity in childbirth care requires a bold new path forward.

Among women treated at health centers receiving federal funding under Title X, the proportion receiving cervical cancer screening tests declined significantly from 2005 to 2015, according to new research.

In recent years, testing for the BRCA1/2 gene mutations has increased among women in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, helping to drastically reduce the gap in testing rates between the groups.

Racial bias happens everywhere; it happens, often implicitly, as decisions are made about access to childbirth care in rural America.

AstraZeneca announced that the FDA has expanded the indications for fulvestrant (Faslodex). The drug is now approved as first-line monotherapy for women with certain types of breast cancer.

A new study indicates there are persistent socioeconomic disparities in the rates of women who receive breast reconstruction surgery after undergoing a mastectomy to treat their breast cancer.

A new study finds that bariatric surgery can have beneficial effects for women beyond just weight loss: it was also associated with lower risk of female-specific cancers, like breast or ovarian cancer.

As the weather heats up, the risk of gestational diabetes in pregnant women may rise along with the temperature, according to findings from a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Every year, the week beginning with Mother’s Day is designated as National Women’s Health Week, meant to shine a spotlight on the unique health challenges affecting women in America.

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that the extent to which clinicians follow breast cancer screening guidelines for patients of different ages varies by their specialty and by which set of recommendations they trust most.

A new study finds that women with ovarian cancer who were black or Hispanic tended to undergo more aggressive treatment and were less likely to receive hospice services at the end of life.

Women who were diagnosed with cancer at a young age are more likely to experience adverse birth outcomes like preterm birth, low birth weight, and cesarean delivery, particularly if the diagnosis occurred during pregnancy, according to a study in JAMA Oncology.

A study of breast cancer survivors’ cognitive performance before and after chemotherapy sheds light on the problem of cancer-related cognitive impairment.

A recent JAMA study found that women with breast cancer would generally like to receive genetic testing and counseling, but less than one-third actually receive it.

Women with breast cancer are twice as likely to return to work after treatment if their employer makes accommodations for them, but workplace accommodation and job retention are significantly lower for low-income and minority women.

What we’re reading, December 27, 2016: nurses are viewed as most ethical and honest profession in America, followed by pharmacists and physicians; over half of Brazilian women reported avoiding pregnancy due to the Zika virus; cooking interventions may help low-income parents feel more positive about preparing and eating vegetables.

Research published in JAMA indicates that the proportion of pregnant women who have recently used marijuana has increased significantly from 2002 to 2014.

A study on gender and racial inequalities in the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among non-smokers found that black Americans and women are at higher risk, possibly due to a combination of biological and social factors.

What we’re reading, December 12, 2016: veterans with dementia who used both the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system and Medicare were more likely to be prescribed potentially unsafe medications; HHS will begin to conduct on-site privacy compliance audits in 2017; study finds that women with strong social connections have better breast cancer outcomes.

A survey examining nonfinancial barriers to cervical cancer screening indicated that women who were rarely or never screened were more likely to report having 1 or more chronic conditions. The study suggests that physicians include preventive services along with treatment for chronic conditions.

To address infant mortality, focusing only on babies who were born prematurely or with a low birth weight will be missing an attention-worthy segment of the population.