A new study published this week suggests that women with high levels of both oestrogen and testosterone at midlife are at a higher risk of developing fibroids than women with low levels of hormones. This finding is important because this is the first time that testosterone has been linked to fibroids.

In this study 1412 women aged 45 -52 were monitored over 13 years with each woman having an annual check-up where their hormone levels were measured. It was found that women with high levels of testosterone in their blood were 1.33 times more likely to develop fibroids than women with low levels of testosterone, and women with high levels of both oestrogen and testosterone had an even greater risk , they were 1.5 times more likely to develop fibroids.

Dr Jennifer Lee, one of the researchers explained the importance of these findings by stating that:

“The research opens up new lines of inquiry regarding how fibroids develop and how they are treated. Given that managing uterine fibroids costs an estimated $34.4 billion in annual medical expenditures nationwide, it is important to identify new ways to better treat this common condition.”

You can read more about this research here

This week the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Prof Dame Sally Davies published her annual health report which focused on women’s health. We were very happy that the report had this focus as many of the health issues that affect women can often be ignored,  not talked about or are felt to be too trivial to be of any importance to society. The report communicates this sentiment by stating that:

“Problems ‘below the waist’ are not generally seen as attractive topics for public or political discourse. Women are often reluctant to seek help for conditions that are common, disabling and taboo…”

The report covers a number of women’s health issues including gender-based violence, FGM, eating disorders, pre-conception health, prenatal screening, perinatal mental health, post-pregnancy care, menopause, incontinence, prolapse and women’s cancers. They make 18 recommendations on how to address the challenges associated with these issues and you can read about these here

We were disappointed to see that fibroids weren’t mentioned in this report despite fibroids being very common and having a significant effect on quality of life. It would have been very relevant for fibroids to be have been explored in a report on women’s health and we feel that this was a missed opportunity to explore the impact of fibroids and begin to develop a national strategy to support women.

The authors highlighted the fact that obesity tended to be a common theme in all of the health issues they explored and stressed that action is needed to prevent obesity. Therefore the report made the recommendation that the Government should include obesity in its national risk planning.  This led to the many media headlines this week stating that “Obesity is the biggest threat to women’s health” and that “obesity is as dangerous as our terror threat”.

We were very happy that the Chief Medical Officer’s report focused on women’s health, a very important area and hope that her recommendations are taken forward to ensure that we improve the health and wellbeing of all women. We were disappointed that key issues such as fibroids were excluded from this report and we’ll continue our work in this area.

You can download her full report below.

Target Ovarian Cancer and the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre are pleased to announce their three day Living Well course. This course is aimed at women who have recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or have recurrent ovarian cancer.

This is a free residential course that will cover:

• Managing stress through relaxation and simple breathing exercises
• Coping with the emotional and psychological impact of cancer and its treatment
• How to prepare and enjoy healthy food
• Finding a way to bring manageable exercise into your life
• Discussing the impact of a cancer diagnosis on relationships
• Consider how living with cancer affects our deepest values and beliefs
• Receiving basic information on financial welfare

This course will be held on Tuesday 28^th  April to Thursday 30^th April 2015

Today, The Lake Foundation formally published the findings from its fibroids survey.

Our fibroids survey was launched last summer and we invited women with experience of fibroids to take part. The aim of the survey was to understand the needs of women with fibroids to inform the development of our fibroids information and support programme.

We explored five main areas and our key findings are as follows:

Awareness of fibroids prior to diagnosis

• There was a general low level of awareness of fibroids amongst participants prior to their diagnosis.
• There was a good level of awareness of some of the main symptoms of fibroids but a low level of awareness of other symptoms.
• Participants were aware that ethnicity was a risk factor for fibroids but less aware of other risk factors.

Route to Diagnosis

• The majority of participants delayed seeing their GP for six months or more after first noticing symptoms.
• After visiting their GP, most women received a confirmed diagnosis within 4 weeks but over a quarter stated that it took 12 months or more to receive a confirmed diagnosis.

Treatment

• Despite the fact that 79% of participants had a discussion with their GP about treatment options, 63% stated that they didn’t feel that they had enough information to make an informed decision about their treatment.
• The majority of participants (42%) had surgery to treat their fibroids.
• A quarter of respondents were very happy with their follow-up and aftercare whilst 33% stated that they were not at all satisfied.

The Effect of Fibroids and its Treatment on Quality of Life

• Participants reported that fibroids and its treatment significantly affected their quality of life, affecting them not just physically, but emotionally.
• Many participants did not feel like they had enough support to assist them in managing or overcoming the emotional, physical and medical impact of fibroids.

The Availability of Information and Support

• The biggest gaps in the availability of support were in information and peer support with a small gap in emotional support.

In 2015 we will work towards addressing these issues and have started this with our Fibroids Ask The Expert which was launched at the end of last year.

For more information on the findings of our survey please download our report below.