Research

Men who eat more ultra-processed food may be more likely to face fertility issues, a study suggests. Ultra-processed foods, or UPFs, include bread, cakes, pastries, fried foods and salty snacks. They contain artificial ingredients and high levels of fat, sugar and salt. Previous studies have linked UPFs to at least 32 serious health conditions, including [...]

More light activity and less sitting in pregnancy may cut the risk of high blood pressure conditions by nearly 30 per cent, early research suggests. The study looked at nearly 500 pregnant women at three healthcare centres in the US and found that time spent sitting and doing light physical activity were the strongest predictors [...]

A gene linked to triple negative breast cancer could point to a new targeted treatment, researchers say. Triple negative breast cancer makes up about 15 per cent of breast cancer cases. This form of the disease can be more aggressive and harder to treat than other types, with fewer targeted treatment options available. It is [...]

AI could help routine mammograms spot heart disease risk in women, as well as breast cancer, researchers have found. A team from Emory University analysed regular screening scans from more than 123,000 women who had no prior history of cardiovascular disease. Using an AI programme to quantify calcification and hardening in the arteries, they found [...]

A blood test for endometriosis showed clinical promise after detecting cases missed by standard imaging, according to a clinical validation study. HerAnova Lifesciences has published a peer-reviewed clinical validation study of its HerResolve blood test for endometriosis in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, the official journal of the AAGL. The multi-centre study enrolled 298 [...]

New research has revealed privacy and advice concerns surrounding tech aimed at helping women navigate the menopause. The study, which surveyed 310 UK participants, warns that sensitive data collected from women about their health is often vulnerable to exploitation, ranging from targeted financial scams to workplace discrimination and misinformation. With nearly one million women in [...]

"Game-changing" home urine tests to detect early stage breast cancer are being developed in Wales, alongside similar work on endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome. Researchers said they hope to have a prototype kit within the next year to detect early stage breast cancer using a lateral flow urine sample. Lateral flow tests are simple strip-based [...]

Digital symptom checkers could reduce endometriosis diagnosis delays by more than four years and save over US$5,000 per patient, according to a modelling study. Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the womb lining grows outside the uterus, often causing pelvic pain and other symptoms. In the US it takes about seven years on [...]

Lifestyle factors are linked to more than a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer worldwide, according to the largest study of its kind. The research analysed data from population-based cancer registries across more than 200 countries between 1990 and 2023 to examine how lifestyle affects the global burden of breast cancer. The study, [...]

Nearly six in 10 US women are projected to have cardiovascular disease by 2050, driven largely by rising rates of high blood pressure, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement. Cardiovascular disease refers to conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels, including heart disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heartbeat, [...]