Women's Health Archive

Doctors typically recommend that women who have high blood pressure avoid using birth control that contains estrogen to avoid raising risks for a stroke or heart attack. According to a clinical update, this recommendation may be changing for some women with high blood pressure.

Ask the doctors

Q. I've been experiencing some menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes. Can acupuncture help?

A. There is some evidence that acupuncture may be able to provide short-term relief from some menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes. Acupuncture is a long-used type of Chinese medicine in which a trained practitioner inserts thin needles into specific locations on your body.

Research we're watching

Need another reason to quit smoking? A study published in the September 2020 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry found that women ages 30 to 60 who smoked had four times the risk of having a brain aneurysm (a weakened artery in the brain that bulges and could burst) compared with nonsmokers.

Researchers looked at nearly 550 women who had a brain scan performed, most often because of persistent headaches. The scans showed that 113 of them had one or more brain aneurysms. These individuals were then matched with 113 people who did not have brain aneurysms. In comparing the two groups, the researchers found not only that smoking drove up the risk of finding a brain aneurysm, but also that women who both smoked and had high blood pressure had seven times the risk compared to nonsmokers with normal blood pressure. If future research shows that smokers also have a significantly higher risk of brain aneurysm rupture, women smokers ages 30 to 60 might be candidates for aneurysm screening.

Prediabetes is a common condition, and often goes undetected. People with this condition have a number of health risks, including a greater chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke. In addition, they are more likely to develop diabetes, which can lead to additional health problems, such as kidney disease and a higher rate of infection. Testing for prediabetes can find the condition early and potentially prevent it from progressing to diabetes.

Intimate partner violence can occur between people of any gender or sexual orientation. Abuse can leave people feeling isolated, confused, or hopeless, and talking to a health professional is one way to get help in the form of medical treatment or access to appropriate services.

This ancient practice, which consists of sequences of fluid movements, can improve your balance and help you prevent falls.

Tai chi is a form of gentle exercise that experts say can help improve your mood, reduce your stress level, and help keep your heart healthy. It can also benefit your bones.

"There's very strong evidence that tai chi is one of the best weight-bearing exercises to reduce the risk for falls," says Peter Wayne, faculty editor of the Harvard Special Health Report An Introduction to Tai Chi and director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

What Is It?

Uterine cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract. There are two main types: endometrial cancer and uterine sarcoma.

Endometrial cancer is the most common type of uterine cancer. It occurs in the inner lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. The disease generally strikes women between the ages of 50 and 65. Its cause is not fully understood.

What Is It?

Vaginal cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the vagina (birth canal).

Cancer that starts in the vagina is called primary vaginal cancer. Primary vaginal cancer is rare. More commonly, cancer cells in the vagina are from cancer that started somewhere else, such as the cervix. There are two main types of primary vaginal cancer: squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.

Could a closer look at your mammogram help guide efforts to prevent heart disease?

Your mammogram could offer a glimpse at more than just the health of your breasts. It may also provide important clues about your heart.

When a radiologist reads a mammogram, she or he sometimes sees little white streaks that look like lines of chalk inside the arteries of your breast. These lines are actually deposits of calcium called arterial calcifications. If you have them, it could mean that you have similar deposits in other arteries inside your body, including those that bring blood to your heart muscle — a known risk factor for heart disease.