Women's Health

Women and young girls who experience delays in diagnosing a premature, menopause-like condition face increased risk of low bone density, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. A delay in diagnosing the condition, called primary ovarian insufficiency, may make women more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures later in life, the researchers concluded.

Older women suffering from clinical frailty stand to benefit from the first potential medical treatment for the condition, according to a study presented last week by Penn Medicine researchers at ENDO, The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting. Ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, was administered to older women diagnosed with frailty, a common geriatric syndrome characterized by unintentional weight loss, weakness, exhaustion and low levels of anabolic hormones which increases risk of falls, hospitalizations, disability, and death.

Combination hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has long been associated with risks of stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer. Now researchers have linked combination HRT to an increased risk of dying of non-small cell lung cancer.

Rowan Chlebowski, M.D., Ph.D., of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and his colleagues report the findings from the Women's Health Initiative which show using estrogen and progestin led to a 59% increase in the risk of death if a woman developed non-small cell lung cancer.

The largest study of its kind to date shows that women may not be able to learn as well shortly before menopause, compared with other stages in their lives. The research was published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Over four years, the researchers studied 2,362 women who were between the ages of 42 and 52 and had had at least one menstrual period in the three months before the study started.

Hyperkyphosis, or "dowager's hump" — the exaggerated forward curvature of the upper spine seen commonly in elderly women — may predict earlier death in women whether or not they have vertebral osteoporosis, UCLA researchers have found.

The Know My Bones Council today announced results from a national Harris Interactive survey, which found that one-out-of-five women with postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) are retiring later than anticipated and nearly half (48 percent) blame the current economy. Despite the need to work longer, half of the women with PMO are fearful that the disease will limit their ability to work.

Newly identified gene variants associated with the age at which females experience their first menstrual period and the onset of menopause may help shed light on the prevention of breast and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers are not entirely sure why women with chest pain are not getting the same recommended care as men, but a new study suggests there are disparities. Men traditionally receive aspirin and nitroglycerin en route to the hospital. A review of statistics shows that women with the same symptoms of chest pain are getting less care compared to men.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have identified in mice two proteins essential for ovulation to take place.

The finding has implications for treating infertility resulting from a failure of ovulation to occur as well as for developing new means to prevent pregnancy by preventing the release of the egg.

The proteins, called ERK1 and ERK2, appear to bring about the maturation and release of the egg.

U.S. doctors perform 600,000 hysterectomies each year, making it the second most common surgical procedure. Traditional hysterectomies are invasive, requiring a six to twelve inch incision and four to six weeks of recovery. Rush University surgeons are turning to the daVinci Surgical System to perform a more precise, minimally invasive surgery.