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EVERYTHING
Bacterial Vaginosis Breakthrough: Also Treat Men
What: A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that bacterial vaginosis—a painful infection that affects up to one-third of women and recurs for most within a year despite antibiotics—is sexually transmitted between partners. A study that gave male partners an oral and topical antibiotic led to only 35% of women getting BV again, compared to 63% in the control group.
Key line: “The findings are ‘pretty significant for women’s health,’ said Dr. Christina Muzny, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was not involved in the study but coauthored an editorial about its findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not only do the study results change how B.V. could be treated going forward, she said, but they also seem to confirm a long-held suspicion among scientists that the condition is actually a sexually transmitted infection. ‘Patients and providers are going to need renewed education on B.V.,’ Dr. Muzny said.
Source: New York Times, New England Journal of Medicine
The Best and Worst States for Women (and Their Health)
What: WalletHub is out with rankings of the best states for women, including a battery of specific measures on women’s health. Attributes included access to abortion care, the quality of women’s hospitals, how many women are uninsured, how many women are up-to-date on preventative care like cervical and breast cancer screenings, among others. The top states for women’s health care are Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Hawaii; the worst states are Wyoming, Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
Key line: “Blue states are more women-friendly than red states.” The average blue state ranked 15th overall, while the average red state ranked 37th. Researchers also noted that “the smaller the number, the more woman-friendly a state is.” States were designated red or blue based on 2024 presidential vote.
Source: WalletHub
ABORTION ACCESS
FDA Nominee Says He’ll ‘Look at the Data’ on Abortion Pill, Despite 25 Years of Use
What: The nominee to lead the FDA, Dr. Marty Makary, had his nomination hearing in the Senate today. He said he has “no preconceived plans” to ban the abortion pill and would “take a hard look at the data.” (The comments were similar to what HHS Sec. Kennedy said at his hearing last month.) Banning the abortion pill is a major focus for anti-abortion groups that support President Trump.
Key line: “Mifepristone was approved roughly 25 years ago and FDA scientists have repeatedly reaffirmed its safety over the years, easing limits on its use, including eliminating a requirement that patients pick it up in person.”
Source: AP
MENOPAUSE
Alzheimer’s, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and Timing
What: Stat’s Elizabeth Cooney has a deep dive looking at the Science Advances papers on women’s brains, including how hormone replacement therapy (HRT)—especially *when* women take it—may affect Alzheimer’s risk.
Key line: “’These two papers add to the growing evidence that, for menopausal hormone therapy, timing is everything, and the ‘critical window hypothesis’ for estrogen applies not only to heart disease but also to cognition and Alzheimer’s disease,’ said [JoAnn Manson, principal investigator of the Boston site for the overall Women’s Health Initiative], who is also chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. ‘Whether early initiation of hormone therapy could help to mitigate this excess risk is an intriguing and pressing question.’”
Source: Stat
ONCOLOGY
Breast Cancer Death Rate Stopped Decreasing for Older Women, Too
What: Researchers found that for women over the age of 74, breast cancer mortality rates dropped a little over 1% every year from 1993 to 2013 and then stopped declining. Previous research found breast cancer death rates had stopped decreasing for women under 40 in 2010.
Key line: “This study indicates that increasing rates of advanced stage breast cancer at diagnosis is an important reason breast cancer mortality rates are no longer declining at the rate they once did. The researchers believe that this may be due to healthcare protocols. While the medical community currently recommends a breast cancer assessment for all women by age 25, breast cancer screening is only recommended for women under age 40 who are at higher-than-average risk. Some guidelines discourage women over 74 from screening.”
Source: Oxford University Press
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