Evidence-based reporting, analysis and perspectives on women’s health worldwide. Updated as stories develop.
Women who were both lonely and socially isolated could expect 2.4 fewer years free of major physical disease from the age of 50, a study of 277,489 UK adults has found. Healthy habits offset some of the harm linked to isolation, and WHO and some governments are now treating social connection as a health priority.
Anxiety and depression become more common for some women during the menopause transition, and many don’t link the two. Guidelines from NICE and FIGO now give women a clear basis to ask for mood to be assessed, and Australia has funded a GP check that includes it.
Women with endometriosis or polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) report depression and anxiety at up to 2.2 times the rate of other women, an Australian survey of 9,000 women has found. Its authors want mental health checks built into clinics that Australia is already expanding.
Women who had entered the menopausal transition by the age of 46 were 44% more likely to report clinically significant anxiety, a Finnish study of more than 2,600 women shows. Menopause guidance in England already asks clinicians to address mood, and women can ask for it.
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