|
MENSTRUATION
Study Finds American Girls Are Getting Periods Younger–And They’re More Irregular
What: A study of over 70,000 women found that periods are starting earlier, with the average age of 11.9 years for those born between 2000 and 2005, compared to 12.5 years for those born between 1950 and 1969. And it is taking longer for those cycles to become regular.
Why it matters: “’We found that children are experiencing longer time to regularity,’ said Zifan Wang, the study’s lead author and a post doctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. ‘This is also very concerning because irregular cycles are an important indicator of later-in-life adverse health events. It alarms us. We need to do more early counseling and intervention on irregular cycles among children and adolescents.’”
Source: Washington Post
Research on Periods Finally Unlocks Some Mysteries
What: The Economist has a deep dive on menstruation, and how the research around it is finally unlocking some secrets of how and why it operates: “Questions about menstruation abound: scientists are not sure why it evolved in humans, nor what constitutes a ‘normal’ menstrual cycle. It is also not obvious what makes some bleed so much more or experience worse pain than others.” Enter mouse models and building a uterus-like environment…on a chip.
Why it matters: “When Dr Critchley began her career in the 1980s, menstruation was described to her as an enigma. It has broadly remained so ever since. The advent of new modelling techniques, though, means that things are starting to feel different. ‘The time is changing,’ she says. The phenomenon that so terrified Pliny is, almost two millennia later, slowly becoming explicable.”
Source: The Economist
ABORTION ACCESS
Abortion Hearing Coming Next Week
What: Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Bernie Sanders announced a hearing next week covering the past two years since Roe vs. Wade was overturned. The hearing will focus on how “Republican abortion bans have created a full-blown health care crisis — forcing providers to close their doors and shut down their practices, putting women’s lives in danger, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant, no matter their circumstances.”
Why it matters: Some people are just starting to tune in to the upcoming presidential election, and hearings like this will almost certainly feature gut-wrenching personal stories told by women. Their experiences can help clarify what is at stake, and how Donald Trump brought about this health crisis.
Source: The Hill
MENOPAUSE
It Really Is Menopause’s ‘Moment’
What: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf writes a manifesto, reminding us that the menopause “moment” has happened before in history—but explains why this time, it’s really different.
Why it matters: “A new, modern menopause movement is underway, mobilized by a diverse coalition of doctors, journalists, and social and racial justice activists, and through the openness of influential leaders including Michelle Obama, Tracee Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey, among others. Some attribute it to generational politics, the estimated 6,000 Gen Xers like me now entering menopause every day in the United States. We are bookended by our postmenopausal moms and mentors and by millennials, who are already or soon to be in the throes of peri-menopause, which can last for a decade.”
Source: Ms. Magazine
FEMTECH
Where Women’s Health Biotech Investment Is (Or Isn’t) Happening
What: Nature Biotechnology runs down major areas of research and investment in women’s health, including “the genetics of pregnancy loss to the signaling pathways in pre-eclampsia and molecular mechanisms of ovarian aging,”
Why it matters: “All femtechs agree that investment is a challenge, despite the recent uptick in enthusiasm. A women’s health investor forum in 2023 at the New York Stock Exchange attracted 90 potential investors, representing hundreds of millions of investor dollars. But many potential investors are watching and waiting, rather than opening their wallets, says Obremskey, who attended the event. ‘They are sitting on the sidelines watching for that proof point.’”
Source: Nature
|