Category: Women’s Health
US birth rates are at record lows – even though the number of kids most Americans say they want has held steady
Birth rates are falling in the U.S. Is this decline because, as some suggest, young people aren’t interested in having children? Or are people facing increasing barriers to becoming parents?
DOH launchers interactive tool to connect people to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program
WIC provides monthly food benefits with an emphasis on healthy grocery items like milk, fruits, and vegetables. The program also assists with health screenings and referrals, nutritional education, and breast/chest-feeding support. WIC is for people who are pregnant, recently delivered a baby, who are breast/chest-feeding, and infants and children under 5 years old. Dads, grandparents, foster parents, or other guardians may also apply for WIC for their children.
Endometriosis: It’s time to change the pattern of pain, stigma and barriers to diagnosis and treatment
One of the significant challenges faced by people with endometriosis is receiving a diagnosis. Patients experience an average delay of 5.4 years from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis. The symptoms are similar to other reproductive health issues (such as polycystic ovary syndrome) or severe period pain, which can be confusing for non-specialist health-care professionals.
Perimenopause usually begins in your 40s. How do you know if it has started?
Perimenopause usually begins in the early to mid-40s. Some people even begin perimenopause earlier, due to premature ovarian insufficiency or medical treatments such as chemotherapy or surgical oophorectomy (ovary removal).
Medical exceptions to abortion bans often exclude mental health conditions
Despite mental health conditions making up more than 20% of maternal deaths and 1 in 5 women suffering maternal mental health conditions, several states explicitly exclude mental health conditions as exceptions to abortion restrictions.
Many women can’t access miscarriage drug because it’s also used for abortions
Doctors say patients have gotten caught up in larger debates around abortion
Risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth more than doubled between 1999 and 2019 in the US, UW study finds
Most maternal deaths are considered preventable because, in the U.S., maternal deaths are most often caused by problems that have very effective treatments, including bleeding after delivery, heart disease, high blood pressure, blood clots and infections.
The orgasm gap and why women climax less than men
In one study of more than 50,000 people, 95% of heterosexual men said they usually or always orgasm when sexually intimate, while only 65% of heterosexual women said the same.
ACL injuries can lead to osteoarthritis later in life – here’s what you need to know
Aside from the pain of an ACL injury and potential need for reparative or reconstructive surgery, there’s also another long-term consequence of serious knee trauma: post-traumatic osteoarthritis.
Running on empty: Female athletes’ health and performance at risk from not eating enough
When the energy consumed from food becomes insufficient to meet the demands of high physical activity levels, a state of imbalance occurs called low energy availability. Low energy availability can disrupt hormones and metabolism in as little as five days.
COVID-19 vaccination and boosting during pregnancy benefits pregnant people and newborns
The researchers found that pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccines generated antibodies against specific types of SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies crossed the placenta and were also found in the cord blood of vaccinated participants. This likely conferred some protection in the newborns against infection immediately after birth—a critical time when they are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease but are too young to be vaccinated.
Women get far more migraines than men – a neurologist explains why, and what brings relief
More than three times as many women as compared to men get migraines, and women’s migraines are more frequent, more disabling and longer-lasting than men’s.
Doctors Emerge as Political Force in Battle Over Abortion Laws in Ohio and Elsewhere
Doctors who previously never mixed work with politics are jumping into the abortion debate by lobbying state lawmakers, campaigning, forming political action committees and trying to get reproductive rights protected by state law.
FDA approves first daily over-the-counter birth control pill, Opill – a pharmacist and public health expert explain this new era in contraception
The FDA’s approval of the first-ever over-the-counter daily birth control pill means that people could soon get them from the same aisles as aspirin, eye drops or condoms.
Vaccination in pregnancy greatly reduces risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, and protects babies up to 6 months after birth
Extensive evidence shows COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy are safe, when given at any time during the pregnancy.