For how we live.
Among 7,579 pregnancies in people with migraine, anti-CGRP antibody use early in pregnancy carried a 42% higher adjusted risk of spontaneous abortion; propranolol showed no increase. The data are observational.
In 221 male childhood-cancer survivors, FSH levels during puberty tracked adult testicular function. Radiotherapy damage persisted into adulthood, while alkylating-chemotherapy effects often recovered.
Among privately insured patients, 63% with IVF coverage had a baby within 2.5 years versus 53% without. The gap was driven mostly by covered patients starting more cycles — not a higher success rate per cycle.
In 1,448 pregnancies, lower early placental growth factor was linked to more preterm births — yet adding it to a prediction model lifted accuracy only from 0.59 to 0.68.
A post hoc analysis of the BAMBINI trial asked whether losing too much weight could backfire on fertility in PCOS. It did not: every degree of weight loss was linked to a better chance of ovulating.
Injecting one sperm into each egg was meant for severe male-factor cases, yet clinics now use it widely. Pooling six randomised trials found no live-birth advantage over standard IVF when sperm is not the problem.
A European trial stopped early for futility: clinical pregnancy occurred in 15.7% of women given transdermal testosterone before IVF and 14.9% given placebo. The trial was funded by Ferring.
In a 4,376-woman trial across 24 Chinese centres, natural-cycle embryo transfer gave the same healthy-live-birth rate as a programmed hormone regimen, with less pre-eclampsia and postpartum haemorrhage.
A Lancet Global Health model projects that barring women from nursing and midwifery training could cut maternal care-seeking to a third of current levels and raise the maternal mortality ratio 29% to 41% by 2035.
About 7.5% of sexually active women in Britain reported pain lasting three months or more, a national survey found. The usual causes — dryness, vulval pain, infection, endometriosis — are treatable.
Popular extras like embryo genetic testing and endometrial scratching did not raise live-birth rates in their biggest randomised trials, and the UK regulator warns most patients need none of them.
Consistent condom use cuts HIV transmission by about 80% and sharply reduces genital HPV, but offers only about 30% protection against genital herpes. The gap is about how each infection spreads.
The Women's Preventive Services Initiative now endorses patient-collected HPV tests for average-risk women aged 30 to 65. HRSA has adopted the update for no-cost insurance coverage from 2027.
A positive urine LH test was followed by ovulation within 48 hours in 92% of cycles in one study. But the tests predict ovulation rather than confirm it, and a surge can occur without an egg released.
In 370 nulliparous women, instilling mepivacaine into the uterus before IUD placement lowered pain by about 15 mm on a 100-mm scale versus saline. It is a real effect, not a cure for the procedure.
Two systematic reviews point the same way: for the pill, IUDs, implants and most methods, about 8 in 10 women conceive within a year of stopping — similar to using no method at all.
Long seen as a disease of women over 40 found only at hysterectomy, it turns up on ultrasound in about one in five gynaecology patients — and every option short of surgery controls symptoms, not the disease.
Pulling out is better than no method but among the least reliable in common use: US data put its first-year failure at 20%. Pre-ejaculatory fluid carried motile sperm in a substantial minority of men studied.
A Cochrane review of 48 trials found treatment may lift pregnancy rates from about 21% to 22–48%, but couldn't confirm a live-birth benefit. Microsurgery had the fewest recurrences.
A daily testosterone-and-progestin gel is in a 52-week efficacy trial in 462 couples. A non-hormonal pill cleared its first safety study in 16 men. Neither is approved.
Modern techniques fail less than 1% of the time. The best meta-analysis found no link to aggressive or fatal prostate cancer; a 2-million-man registry still sees a small excess, most likely from extra testing.
Exogenous testosterone switches off the body's own signals to the testes. In a male-contraceptive trial, 95.9 per 100 men fell to near-zero sperm counts. The effect is usually, but not always, reversible.
An individual-participant meta-analysis found metformin given in pregnancy did not lower the odds of gestational diabetes, though it modestly lengthened gestation and reduced preterm birth.
In a study of 750 women, those with 'low' ovarian-reserve hormones were no less likely to conceive. Professional guidance says the test shouldn't be used to counsel women who aren't already infertile.
Consumer kits reliably estimate sperm concentration, and a smartphone assay matched lab classification ~98% of the time. But a normal count can't rule out the motility, shape and DNA problems a full analysis checks.
The chemistry and the exposure are solid. The headline death tolls are model estimates built on assumptions, and they carry uncertainty ranges to match.
Analysing 64.8 million births from 2005 to 2022, researchers found policies such as physician-only requirements and 20-week bans tied to higher odds of preterm birth or low Apgar scores.
Trials put the pregnancy rate after emergency contraceptive pills at roughly 1-3%. But the risk rose more than threefold in obese women, and the levonorgestrel pill fared worst of all.
US guidelines recommend routine chlamydia and gonorrhea screening for sexually active women under 25 and older women at higher risk. Self-collected swabs match clinician-collected ones closely.
The professional guideline now frames recovery as an ongoing process through at least 12 weeks, and one pelvic-floor study found birth injuries still resolving a full year after delivery.
Hormones, surgery and painkillers can reduce pain and improve fertility, but none reliably alter the disease itself — and even removing the uterus does not guarantee the disease goes with it.
The 2023 global guideline puts lifestyle first for everyone, letrozole first for fertility, and the pill for cycles and excess hair — while rating much of its own evidence low to moderate quality.
A systematic review of 43 studies judged cups a safe option, with leakage similar to or lower than pads and tampons. For the newer reusable products, published research is mostly about acceptability, not safety.
In two large clinics, the live birth rate per woman who returned to use her eggs was around 39-50% under 35 or 38, but far lower for older women — and most women who froze never came back to use them.
Weekly fluconazole kept most women free of thrush during treatment, yet by 12 months, six months after stopping, the advantage had narrowed sharply. A newer drug shows more durable suppression.
In modern couples timing intercourse, an estimated 18% of women aged 35-39 failed to conceive within a year — not one in three. The most alarming figures come from models, not from watching real couples try.
In a 22,785-user study of one temperature-based app, typical use failed 6.9 per 100 woman-years and perfect use 1.0 — but the study came from the maker, and traditional methods vary widely.
The numbers most methods advertise are perfect-use figures from clinical trials. In everyday use the pill fails about seven users in 100 a year, the condom about 13, withdrawal about 20.
Tracking 3.6 million women over 24 years, researchers found women with endometriosis were nearly 3.5 times more likely to develop the condition before 40. Seventy percent of cases still have no identified cause.
A double-blind trial found a lidocaine paracervical block lowered pain during IUD placement, most in women who had never given birth. A separate meta-analysis found the benefit hinges on the drug and route.
Louisiana wanted mail and telehealth access to the drug shut down immediately. The judge denied that request but didn't dismiss the case either — he gave the FDA until October to finish its own review.
A double-blind trial randomised 750 women with polycystic ovary syndrome to one drug or the other. Letrozole produced more live births and more ovulation — and is now the guideline's first choice for fertility.
A national pharmaceutical database analysis found out-of-pocket purchases accounted for 78-86% of contraceptive use, with emergency contraception priced up to 25 times higher than the insured rate.