All Women's health Articles

U.S. researchers and Chinese researchers say rat studies show losing estrogen can lead to diminished brain function. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found areas of the brain -- such as CA3 -- that tend to be stroke resistant and important in learning and memory, became vulnerable to stroke in rats that went without estrogen for long periods. It appears estrogen helps Read more...

EDMONTON -- The gender difference between men and women is a lot smaller than we've been led to believe when it comes to heart attack symptoms, according to a new study presented to the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. "Both the media and some patient educational materials frequently suggest that Read more...

Eleven percent of the U.S. population reports not getting enough sleep, with women sleeping less than men, health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report released Thursday said an estimated 50 million to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep and wakefulness disorders. The report said 11.1 percent reported not getting Read more...

Diabetes increases the likelihood that women will develop an abnormal heart rhythm that can lead to stroke or heart failure, according to a Portland-based Kaiser Permanente researcher. Diabetes increases the likelihood that women will develop atrial fibrillation by 26 percent, said Greg Nichols, lead author of a study published in the October issue of Diabetes Care. Nichols is an Read more...

While it's true that most often ovarian cancer is diagnosed after the disease has spread, the widely-held view that there are no early symptoms in not true. This and other misconceptions about ovarian cancer are covered in the latest issue of the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. Here, the myths and the realities. Myth: There are no early symptoms. Fact: Many women with ovarian cancer do Read more...

It has been known for a long time that women who leave it late to have children run the risk of increased infertility, but rarely have the dangers been put in such stark terms as it was recently by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) in the UK. The RCOG commissioned a study group to examine the impact of later motherhood, a phenomenon that is present in nearly every Read more...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it's approved a test that can help detect ovarian cancer in a pelvic mass that is already known to require surgery. The test, called Ova1, helps patients and healthcare professionals decide what type of surgery should be done and by whom, the agency said. "Ova1 identifies some women who will benefit from referral to a gynecological Read more...

Researchers have a new remedy for women who want to stave off heart disease: Take a dose of optimism. More specifically, a new study of more than 97,000 post-menopausal women found that those with positive attitudes had a lower risk of developing heart disease than their pessimistic counterparts. Their risk of developing heart disease was 9 percent lower, and the risk of dying from any Read more...

U.S. scientists suggest estrogens affect the body's dopamine transporter, thereby explaining women's susceptibility to some neurological diseases. Researchers said Parkinson's, Tourette's and Alzheimer's diseases, along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia are all associated with alterations in dopamine-driven function involving the dopamine transporter. Rebecca Read more...

Menopause is so out of the closet, women discuss hot flashes and mood swings over five o’clock cocktails with nary a blush. But as a new survey shows, some menopausal symptoms still remain taboo. Nearly 25 percent of the menopausal and postmenopausal women questioned by researchers as part of an initiative known as REVEAL (REvealing Vaginal Effects At mid-Life) admitted to experiencing Read more...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- There's more troubling news about hormone therapy for menopause symptoms: Lung cancer seems more likely to prove fatal in women who are taking estrogen-progestin pills, a study suggests. Hormone users who developed lung cancer were 60 percent more likely to die from the disease as women who weren't taking hormones, according to results reported Saturday. The new findings Read more...

Routine tests like pap smears and mammograms are important, but don't rely on tests alone to protect you from cancer. It's just as important to listen to your body and notice anything that's different, odd, or unexplainable. You don't want to join the ranks of cancer patients who realize too late that symptoms they'd noticed for a long time could have sounded the alarm earlier, when cancer was Read more...

In Chinese Culture, a woman's midlife transition is known as her Second Spring. That's also the title of a new book -- "Second Spring: Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to Revitalize and Regenerate at Any Age" (Free Press, $17.99). It's authored by Dr. Maoshing Ni, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine who co-founded the Tao of Wellness Chinese Medicine Center in southern Read more...

MONTREAL -- When it comes to immunity, men may not have been dealt an equal hand. The latest study by Dr. Maya Saleh, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and McGill University, shows that women have a more powerful immune system than men. In fact, the production of estrogen by females could have a beneficial effect on the innate inflammatory response against bacterial Read more...

Women with chest pain but no coronary artery disease are at an elevated risk for cardiovascular events such as heart attack or stroke, U.S. researchers said. Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Women's Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, said women and men experience heart disease differently and require different treatments. "These results combined Read more...

Women who have their healthy ovaries removed when they have a hysterectomy face a higher risk of death, including death from coronary heart disease and lung cancer, than women who keep their ovaries, according to new research. The finding, from a study published in the May issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, challenges conventional wisdom that removing ovaries along with the Read more...

The longer women breastfeed, the lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease, University of Pittsburgh researchers said. "We have known for years that breastfeeding is important for babies' health; we now know that it is important for mothers' health as well," Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz said in a statement. The study, published in the journal Obstetrics Read more...

One day you read alcohol is good for your heart. The next day you read it’s bad for your breasts. The issues are so confusing it’s enough to drive you to drink! So is it OK to have that nightly cocktail? I’ve sorted through research on alcohol and women’s health issues to bring you the most up to date conclusions. Heart Health There appears to be a consensus that having a nightly Read more...

LONDON -- Doctors screening women for ovarian cancer were able to pick up the disease about two years earlier than normal, according to a British study. Scientists have long searched for a way to identify ovarian cancer early, which kills nearly 100,000 women worldwide every year. If it is found early, nearly 90 percent of women survive. However, most women are currently only diagnosed Read more...