A study of 900,000-plus patients found frail men faced a higher one-year death risk after a heart attack, although severe frailty was more common in women.

While attention has rightly focused on women often being undertreated after a heart attack, the research points to what it describes as a hidden and serious vulnerability in men.

The study found severe frailty, a state where the body’s reserves are reduced and recovery is harder, was more common in women after a heart attack, but the one-year risk of death was significantly higher for frail men.

This creates a more complex picture, with women facing inequalities in access to care, while frail men face what the researchers describe as a “malignant” prognosis that current standard treatments are failing to address.

The research, which the authors describe as the largest of its kind, was led by the University of Leicester and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and British Heart Foundation Centre of Excellence. It analysed national data over a 15-year period to disentangle the relationship between sex, frailty and survival. It was conducted through an international collaboration with the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute at the University of Cambridge and the Center for Geriatric Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr Muhammad Rashid, from the University of Leicester’s department of cardiovascular sciences and senior clinical research fellow for the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, led the study alongside Dr Hasan Mohiaddin and Horatio Mosanya.

He said: “The study challenges current risk assessments which often treat frailty as a uniform predictor.”

Rashid said the interaction between frailty and sex had not previously been explored, leaving a gap in understanding patient risk. He said the findings relate to AMI patients, with AMI meaning acute myocardial infarction, the medical term for a heart attack.

“Our study provides new insights into this, demonstrating that the likely impact of frailty in AMI patients is not uniform, but significantly modified by sex. In males this could be rooted in fundamental differences with data suggesting they are more prone to artery blockages and have a higher prevalence of diabetes and multiple diseases, and a more vulnerable cardiac state. Even when they receive more intensive therapeutic care, their vulnerability and diminished physiological reserves to withstand another major cardiovascular event are low.”

“However, frailty in females may represent a more multi-system decline not exclusively linked to the severity of their coronary disease. This suggests that frailty in females is a marker of accumulated disability across multiple systems rather than being driven primarily by advanced coronary disease.”

Rashid said the findings could have significant clinical implications. He added that current risk assessment needs to evolve so that male care pathways after a heart attack are enhanced beyond cardio-metabolic management and prioritised cardiac rehabilitation, while equitable delivery of established, life-saving therapies should be established for females.

“The development and validation of new sex-specific frailty assessment tools should therefore be a priority for future research as such tools may be better suited to identifying high-risk individuals and guiding targeted interventions for the most vulnerable patients.”

Menopause hair loss trial data showed what the company called clinically meaningful regrowth from a scalp system in a phase II study of menopausal women.

The four-month independent trial evaluated Prevention and Treatment Serums in 43 menopausal-aged women with androgenetic alopecia.

Androgenetic alopecia is a common form of hair thinning.

The trial was announced by dermatologist-founded brand KilgourMD.

Dr James Kilgour, board-certified dermatologist, founder and chief executive of KilgourMD, said: “Menopausal women have been largely excluded from rigorous hair loss research, despite experiencing some of the most challenging and persistent forms of thinning.

“This study validates not only the performance of the KilgourMD System, but also the importance of designing and testing solutions specifically for this population.

“These results represent a meaningful step forward in how menopausal hair loss is treated.”

Unlike many studies in this category, eligibility required a clinically significant level of hair loss, and outcomes were objective and dermatologist-evaluated rather than consumer perception surveys.

By day 120, the company said 53 per cent of participants achieved at least a half-grade improvement on the modified Female Ludwig scale, a clinical scale used to rate the severity of female hair loss.

This threshold is considered by dermatologists to represent a meaningful visual change. A further 26 per cent showed a full one-grade improvement.

KilgourMD said this level of improvement is comparable to, and in some cases exceeds, results typically reported after six to 12 months of conventional pharmaceutical therapies such as minoxidil or finasteride.

Across the full study population, participants experienced an average 11.1 per cent improvement in Ludwig score within four months, the company said.

The trial also reported a 60 per cent reduction in hair shedding by month four, measured through standardised combing and washing assessments.

Reductions were seen as early as day 45, when more than 95 per cent of participants showed a decrease from baseline in terminal hair shedding count, measured by standardised hair washing studies in the lab.

Regrowth outcomes were graded by two independent board-certified dermatologists, with high-resolution imaging used to confirm visible improvements in hair density and scalp coverage over time.

More than 80 per cent of participants reported noticeable improvements in hair density, health and overall appearance by the end of the study.

The full results are currently undergoing peer review and are expected to be published later this year.

Most women still prefer clinic cervical screening over at-home self-sampling, despite home testing devices becoming available, a study has found.

However, women who reported discrimination in healthcare, those on lower incomes and those who distrust the healthcare system were more likely to prefer at-home sampling or be unsure which option to choose.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first at-home self-sampling device for cervical cancer screening in May 2025. The US Preventive Services Task Force has not recommended at-home screening.

The study analysed data from a nationally representative survey of US adults, including 2,300 women aged 21 to 65, who were asked whether they preferred at-home vaginal self-sampling (collecting their own sample) or clinic-based testing.

The mean age was 45.5 years, more than 90 per cent had health insurance and more than three-quarters said they had at least two healthcare visits in the last year outside emergency care.

Overall, 60.8 per cent of respondents preferred clinic-based testing, while 20.4 per cent favoured at-home self-sampling and 18.8 per cent were unsure.

Some groups were more likely to prefer at-home sampling. Women who had experienced prejudice or discrimination during medical care were about twice as likely to choose at-home sampling as those who had not.

However, non-Hispanic Black women were less likely than non-Hispanic White women to prefer at-home sampling.

Women who were not heterosexual or did not know their sexual orientation, women with an annual income below US$50,000, and those reporting little or no trust in the healthcare system were more likely to be unsure which option to choose.

Among women who preferred at-home self-sampling, and those who were unsure, the most common reason for considering it was privacy.

That was followed by not wanting to take time off work, avoiding embarrassment and saving on transport costs.

Age, income, education level, marital status, location, insurance coverage and sexual orientation were not linked to preferring at-home sampling over clinic-based screening.

The researchers called for at-home self-sampling to be added to US guidelines and backed by the medical community to increase screening rates and reduce cervical cancer inequalities.

They said tailored interventions and information campaigns are needed, “particularly focusing on high-risk groups such as non-Hispanic Black individuals and women who experience prejudice or discrimination when seeking medical care.”