Insight
Can period trackers support better healthcare?
By Amanda Shea, head of science at Clue
When the pain and health concerns of women and people with cycles are still so often normalised or brushed off as imagined, period tracking is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for better, more personalised healthcare support.
Clue, together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently conducted a study looking into how self-tracked data in period tracking apps can support more accurate diagnoses and individualised management of conditions like heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB).
Estimated to impact around 30 per cent of women, HMB has long been difficult to diagnose, often going under-recognised.
This is thanks, at least in part, to the normalisation of pain and problem periods as something you “just have to live with”.
Different people may have vastly different understandings of what constitutes a heavy period – with personal bias and cultural norms coming into play.
Consider, for example, the perception of someone who comes from a family where heavy periods are considered the norm and complaints are considered an overreaction.
Such people may downplay their own experience and not be likely to seek help, or to even acknowledge their period as being heavy, despite having the clinical symptoms.
Where HMB was previously clinically defined as the loss of more than 80mL of blood in one menstrual period diagnostics have recently shifted toward a more holistic understanding of what makes a period “heavy”. And it’s much more than blood loss alone.
Many clinical organisations now define HMB as excessive menstrual blood loss that interferes with a person’s physical, social, emotional, or material quality of life.
This shift in definition was both necessary (anyone measured their menstrual blood loss lately?) and long overdue.
In one study, only 26 per cent of people who described their period as “heavy”, actually had blood loss higher than the 80 mL clinical norm.
Removing standardised clinical criteria for diagnosing conditions like HMB increases the need to more thoroughly understand individual experiences.
As a period tracking app with a large, diverse user base and unprecedented dataset, at Clue, we were interested in how self-tracked data could support more accurate diagnoses and personalised healthcare by informing individual assessments of HMB.
Our study compared the de-identified real-time tracked data of over 6500 consenting Clue users, to their responses to an online questionnaire which asked them about their last period.
We found that for those who reported having a heavy or very heavy period in the questionnaire, actual flow heaviness was not always the most influential factor.
Instead of just days of heavy flow, period “heaviness” was associated with a variety of additional factors including increased app-tracked period length, increased pain and other physical symptoms such as fatigue and digestive issues, as well as greater disruption of daily activities such as the ability to participate in sexual activity, social and leisure activities, school or work.
Notably, almost 20 per cent of respondents who stated that they had heavy or very heavy periods had not tracked any days of heavy flow, but did track period length and quality of life indicators such as pain and disruptions to daily life similar to those who had tracked heavy flow.
This reinforces why a personalised approach is needed for healthcare support, as the characteristics of individual definitions of “heavy menstrual bleeding” – while sharing some similarities – can vary considerably from person to person.
To support those who are experiencing disruptive menstrual periods or other reproductive health challenges, a holistic approach to care is essential.
Apps like Clue can facilitate quick and simple tracking of a variety of cycle-related experiences in real-time, including things like pain, sleep, mood, and energy.
Our study also found that those who experienced long periods were more likely to underestimate their number of bleeding days, even in their most recent periods, underlying another challenge for accurate diagnoses.
By removing the burden of having to accurately recall previous periods or subtle changes over time, one’s tracked period data can become a powerful, detailed health record – and the basis for more confidently self-advocating with your healthcare provider, through having a deeper understanding of your unique patterns and concerns.
User centric, personalised, digital healthcare is the next frontier. We’re just beginning to see what’s possible when self-tracking can help give women and people with cycles the self-knowledge, insight, and data to back up and validate experiences that have otherwise been invisible and hard to communicate and quantify to their healthcare providers.
Amanda Shea is the head of science at the Berlin-based period tracker app Clue.
Nighttime temperatures during pregnancy may be linked to a higher chance of an autism diagnosis in children, a recent study suggests.
The research tracked nearly 295,000 mother-child pairs in Southern California from 2001 to 2014 and linked warmer overnight temperatures with higher risk in early and late pregnancy.
Children of mothers exposed to higher than typical nighttime temperatures during weeks one to 10 of pregnancy had a 15 per cent higher risk of an autism diagnosis.
Exposure during weeks 30 to 37 was linked to a 13 per cent higher risk.
Lead author David Luglio, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University, said: “A key takeaway is that we identified specific windows when a mother and her developing child can be most affected by exposures to higher nighttime temperatures.
“This is critical and hopefully can help mothers prepare accordingly.”
The study is described as the first to examine how temperature may affect fetal neurodevelopment, the process by which a baby’s brain and nervous system form during pregnancy.
Extreme temperatures linked to increased risk were classified as above the 90th percentile, meaning 3.6°F hotter than average, and the 99th percentile, 5.6°F above average.
The association held even after researchers accounted for factors such as neighbourhood conditions, vegetation and fine-particle air pollution.
The study could not account for other factors such as access to air conditioning. Researchers did not find the same association with daytime temperatures, potentially because people spend more time away from home during the day.
“Heat waves are becoming more frequent, and people may only think of the dangers of daytime heat exposure,” said Mostafijur Rahman, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University.
“These results indicate a strong association between high nighttime temperatures during pregnancy and autism risk in children and show that we need to think about exposure to heat around the clock.”
The study did not examine how higher temperatures at night might affect prenatal development, though Luglio said it is possible that warmer nights disrupt sleep for pregnant mothers.
Previous research has suggested insufficient sleep during pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of neurocognitive delays in children.
“Extreme heat exposure during pregnancy has been linked to a range of adverse health outcomes, including prenatal neurodevelopment delays and complications with an embryo’s development of a central nervous system,” Luglio said.
“The goal of our study was to specifically explore the link between prenatal heat exposure and autism diagnoses for the first time.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed a delegation of parliamentarians to its Geneva headquarters for a high-level dialogue on women’s health and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The meeting on 20 January 2026 focused on women’s health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, noncommunicable diseases (long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes) and global health cooperation.
The exchange was convened by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, bringing together parliamentarians from Albania, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Zimbabwe.
A central theme was the need to move beyond fragmented approaches to women’s health.
Dr Alia El-Yassir, WHO director for gender, equity and diversity, highlighted that outcomes are shaped by gender inequalities, social norms and structural barriers across the life course, requiring coordinated action across health systems.
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark framework adopted in 1995 to advance gender equality and women’s rights, Dr Anna Coates, WHO gender equality technical lead, noted that progress on women’s health remains uneven.
She called for health systems that are more gender-responsive and able to address women’s health holistically across the life course.
Parliamentarians stressed that health is inseparable from wider social and economic policies, and called for stronger links between evidence, legislation and measurable impact at country level.
The meeting also focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights, where parliamentarians expressed interest in engaging on issues that directly affect their constituents.
Dr Pascale Allotey, director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, outlined WHO’s life-course approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
She highlighted how needs evolve from birth to older age and how these are shaped by social determinants, humanitarian crises and demographic trends.
Dr Allotey underscored the role of parliamentarians in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights and the importance of continued engagement with WHO to support evidence-based policy-making.
The agenda highlighted cancer as a growing priority for women’s health and for health system sustainability. Dr Prebo Barango, lead for the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Dr Meghan Doherty, consultant for palliative care, and Santiago Milan, lead for the WHO Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicine, presented WHO’s integrated approach to cancer control.
Palliative care is treatment and support that aims to improve quality of life for people with serious illness by managing pain and other symptoms.
The discussion underlined the need for sustained political commitment and domestic investment to address noncommunicable diseases.
Parliamentarians shared national experiences showing the social and economic impacts of cancer on families and caregivers, reinforcing the importance of improving health literacy, reducing stigma and delivering people-centred care.
The meeting also addressed the state of global multilateralism.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, assistant director-general for health promotion, disease prevention and care, outlined how WHO has restructured to enhance efficiency, impact and capacity to support countries.
He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to more systematic engagement with parliaments, recognising their role in shaping health policy, legislation and budgets.
The exchange concluded with a call for continued collaboration, including through partnerships with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, ahead of the UNITE Global Summit 2026 on 6–7 March in Manila, the Philippines.
Agilent has FDA approval for a test to identify ovarian cancer patients who may be eligible for immunotherapy.
Agilent’s PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx is the only FDA-approved companion diagnostic to help identify patients with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal carcinoma whose tumours express PD-L1 and who may be eligible for treatment with KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy.
A companion diagnostic is a test used alongside a specific treatment to show whether a patient is suitable for that therapy. PD-L1 is a protein on some cancer cells that helps tumours evade the immune system.
These cancers affect the reproductive system and the lining of the abdominal cavity.
The test enables pathologists to assess PD-L1 expression at diagnosis to support treatment decisions in a disease where options remain limited for many.
This is the seventh FDA-approved companion diagnostic indication for PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx for use with KEYTRUDA.
Nina Green, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s clinical diagnostics division, said: “Delivering effective precision oncology requires close collaboration between diagnostics and therapeutics, and this FDA approval reflects Agilent’s long-standing industry partnership in companion diagnostics.
“We are proud to enable pathologists to identify patients with EOC who may benefit from immunotherapy.
“As the first immuno-oncology approval for this disease, this milestone underscores our commitment to advancing precision medicine and expanding access to innovative cancer treatments worldwide.”
PD-L1 expression with this test was evaluated in the KEYNOTE-B96 clinical trial supporting its use to identify patients who may benefit from KEYTRUDA.
In the US, ovarian cancer caused approximately 12,730 deaths in 2025 and the five-year survival rate was 51.6 per cent between 2015 and 2021.
In addition to these cancer types, the test is indicated in the US to help identify patients with non-small cell lung cancer, oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer and gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma who may benefit from treatment with KEYTRUDA.
The test was developed by Agilent with Merck as a companion diagnostic for KEYTRUDA.
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