Latest news with #TheLancetDiabetesandEndocrinology
West Australian
4 days ago
- Health
- West Australian
Women's symptoms 'overlooked' in menopausal stages
Women going through perimenopause are experiencing debilitating hot flushes and night sweats that are often untreated, as a study reveals the prevalence of symptoms during hormonal transitions. Perimenopause is a transitional period before menopause, where levels of oestrogen begin to decrease, bringing with it a range of symptoms. A first of its kind study of more than 5500 women by Monash University published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology examined the similarities and differences in symptoms across the stages of menopause. Almost 40 per cent of perimenopausal women in the study experienced debilitating vasomotor symptoms (VMS) such as hot flushes and night sweats. While it was already known that VMS symptoms were typical in menopause, the study showed a new onset was highly specific to perimenopause, senior author Susan Davis said. Other symptoms such as poor memory and low mood were found at various stages, but vaginal dryness was the most distinctive symptom from pre-menopause to perimenopause, she said. Other symptoms such as poor memory and low mood were found at various stages, but vaginal dryness was the most distinctive symptom from pre-menopause to perimenopause, she said. "While other symptoms might emerge in the perimenopausal stage, they lack specificity to that stage as these other symptoms are also common in pre-menopausal women." A major finding in the study was that women with regular cycles but changed menstrual flow and VMS who are classified as pre-menopausal have a similar severity of symptoms as perimenopausal women. "This finding supports the likelihood of perimenopause commencing before menstrual cycles vary by at least a week, and that women whose periods have become much heavier or much lighter and who also have VMS should be considered as having entered their perimenopause," Professor Davis said. The research was expected to transform women's health treatment, particularly in menopause, which had been overlooked for too long, Monash Women's Health Alliance chair Jill Hennessy said. "Too many go untreated for debilitating symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats," she said. "By defining the symptoms that truly mark this transition, this study empowers women and clinicians alike with better knowledge and tools to improve women's health and wellbeing." The study authors hoped the findings would improve how medical professionals identified and managed transitions in menopause. Many women were overlooked in being classified within a menopausal stage if they had regular cycles or no longer menstruated due to a hysterectomy, first author Rakib Islam said. "Our findings support a more symptom-based approach, enabling earlier recognition of perimenopause and more timely care," he said.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Health
- Perth Now
Women's symptoms 'overlooked' in menopausal stages
Women going through perimenopause are experiencing debilitating hot flushes and night sweats that are often untreated, as a study reveals the prevalence of symptoms during hormonal transitions. Perimenopause is a transitional period before menopause, where levels of oestrogen begin to decrease, bringing with it a range of symptoms. A first of its kind study of more than 5500 women by Monash University published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology examined the similarities and differences in symptoms across the stages of menopause. Almost 40 per cent of perimenopausal women in the study experienced debilitating vasomotor symptoms (VMS) such as hot flushes and night sweats. While it was already known that VMS symptoms were typical in menopause, the study showed a new onset was highly specific to perimenopause, senior author Susan Davis said. Other symptoms such as poor memory and low mood were found at various stages, but vaginal dryness was the most distinctive symptom from pre-menopause to perimenopause, she said. Other symptoms such as poor memory and low mood were found at various stages, but vaginal dryness was the most distinctive symptom from pre-menopause to perimenopause, she said. "While other symptoms might emerge in the perimenopausal stage, they lack specificity to that stage as these other symptoms are also common in pre-menopausal women." A major finding in the study was that women with regular cycles but changed menstrual flow and VMS who are classified as pre-menopausal have a similar severity of symptoms as perimenopausal women. "This finding supports the likelihood of perimenopause commencing before menstrual cycles vary by at least a week, and that women whose periods have become much heavier or much lighter and who also have VMS should be considered as having entered their perimenopause," Professor Davis said. The research was expected to transform women's health treatment, particularly in menopause, which had been overlooked for too long, Monash Women's Health Alliance chair Jill Hennessy said. "Too many go untreated for debilitating symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats," she said. "By defining the symptoms that truly mark this transition, this study empowers women and clinicians alike with better knowledge and tools to improve women's health and wellbeing." The study authors hoped the findings would improve how medical professionals identified and managed transitions in menopause. Many women were overlooked in being classified within a menopausal stage if they had regular cycles or no longer menstruated due to a hysterectomy, first author Rakib Islam said. "Our findings support a more symptom-based approach, enabling earlier recognition of perimenopause and more timely care," he said.
TimesLIVE
6 days ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
New form of type 1 diabetes identified in black patients
A new discovery could change how type 1 diabetes is diagnosed and managed in individuals of African descent, researchers say. In type 1 diabetes, the insulin-producing Beta cells in the pancreas stop working in childhood or young adulthood. The disease has always been attributed to an autoimmune process in which the immune system produces so-called autoantibodies that mistakenly attack the pancreas. But studying 894 volunteers in Cameroon, Uganda and South Africa with youth-onset diabetes, researchers found that 65% of them did not have the usual autoantibodies typically seen in people with type 1 diabetes in other parts of the world. Nor did they have the genes that usually predispose to the disease, or features consistent with other known types of diabetes, such as type 2 and malnutrition-related diabetes. 'This suggests that many young people in this region have a different form of type 1 diabetes altogether and it is not autoimmune in origin,' study leader Dana Dabelea of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus said. Comparing the data to studies in the US, the researchers found that 15% of black Americans diagnosed with type 1 diabetes had a form of the disease similar to the patients in Sub-Saharan Africa, characterised by negative autoantibodies and a low genetic risk score, according to a report in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Healthy lifestyle more beneficial than anti-diabetes drug in long run, study finds
Adopting a healthier lifestyle is more effective than using the anti-diabetes drug metformin, with the benefits persisting over 20 years later, according to a study. The US Diabetes Prevention Program , launched in 1996, enrolled 3,234 patients with prediabetes from 30 institutions across 22 states. The study aimed to compare the benefits of metformin and a lifestyle modification that included exercise and a healthy diet. Researchers from The University of New Mexico , US, found that making lifestyle changes lowered the development of diabetes by 24 per cent, while the anti-diabetes drug lowered it by 17 per cent. The findings are published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal . The team noted that differences between the two approaches -- taking metformin and adopting a healthy lifestyle -- were seen in the first few years since the study's start and were durable. After the first three years, lifestyle interventions, such as weight loss and increased physical activity, led to a 58 per cent reduction in the onset of type 2 diabetes, compared to a 31 per cent reduction with metformin. "The data suggests that those people who didn't get diabetes also didn't get diabetes after 22 years," author Vallabh Raj Shah, professor emeritus at The University of New Mexico's School of Medicine, said. Participants in the lifestyle modification group experienced an additional 3.5 years without diabetes, while those in the metformin group gained an extra 2.5 years. "Within three years (since the study started), they had to stop the study because lifestyle was better than metformin. That means lifestyle, which everybody is banking on, is more effective -- that is the news," Shah added. The authors wrote, "During follow-up, compared with placebo, diabetes incidence rate was reduced in the (intensive lifestyle intervention) group (by 24 per cent), and in the original metformin group (by 17 per cent), with corresponding increases in median diabetes-free survival of 3.5 years and 2.5 years."
New Indian Express
03-07-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Healthy lifestyle more beneficial than anti-diabetes drug in long run, study finds
NEW DELHI: Adopting a healthier lifestyle is more effective than using the anti-diabetes drug metformin, with the benefits persisting over 20 years later, according to a study. The US Diabetes Prevention Program, launched in 1996, enrolled 3,234 patients with prediabetes from 30 institutions across 22 states. The study aimed to compare the benefits of metformin and a lifestyle modification that included exercise and a healthy diet. Researchers from The University of New Mexico, US, found that making lifestyle changes lowered the development of diabetes by 24 per cent, while the anti-diabetes drug lowered it by 17 per cent. The findings are published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal. The team noted that differences between the two approaches -- taking metformin and adopting a healthy lifestyle -- were seen in the first few years since the study's start and were durable. After the first three years, lifestyle interventions, such as weight loss and increased physical activity, led to a 58 per cent reduction in the onset of type 2 diabetes, compared to a 31 per cent reduction with metformin. "The data suggests that those people who didn't get diabetes also didn't get diabetes after 22 years," author Vallabh Raj Shah, professor emeritus at The University of New Mexico's School of Medicine, said. Participants in the lifestyle modification group experienced an additional 3.5 years without diabetes, while those in the metformin group gained an extra 2.5 years. "Within three years (since the study started), they had to stop the study because lifestyle was better than metformin. That means lifestyle, which everybody is banking on, is more effective -- that is the news," Shah added. The authors wrote, "During follow-up, compared with placebo, diabetes incidence rate was reduced in the (intensive lifestyle intervention) group (by 24 per cent), and in the original metformin group (by 17 per cent), with corresponding increases in median diabetes-free survival of 3.5 years and 2.5 years.
