These issues have long-lasting effects on wellbeing
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
A few local providers offered ideas of what’s on the forefront of women’s healthcare.
1. Healthcare Equity
Numerous studies indicate that women’s health concerns are considered less important to their healthcare providers than men’s concerns.
One example is a study published by the Journal of Women’s Health that said women presenting with chest pain are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with mental health issues instead of possible cardiac issues.
Women are also “substantially underrepresented” in medical research than men for issues that affect both genders, according to a study published by Harvard in 2022.
“I ask each and every woman to join me in advocating in more equitable healthcare and increase awareness, education and support for the fight of women in heart disease,” said physician Nelly Kazzaz, a board member representing the American Heart Association Western and Central New York Chapter.
2. Mental healthcare
According to the AJPM Focus — the journal of the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research — a study of women in 2022 showed that “compared with reports before the pandemic, participants reported increased frustration or boredom (69.1%), loneliness (51.6%), anxiety (64.3%), depression (52.4%) and changed sleep patterns (68.3%).”
In addition to providing most of the home’s housekeeping duties and care giving to children and elders, women found themselves juggling, working at home and while schools closed, providing more caregiving and overseeing education at home. Although some of these issues have abated, others such as inflation persist.
“Since the pandemic, women have been under increased pressure at home and work,” Kazzaz said. “Instead of prioritizing mental healthcare, we reduced the priority of preventive healthcare. We are still seeing the consequences of it and we aren’t at the pre-pandemic status of mental health.”
3. Dearth of healthcare providers
It is estimated that about 20% of the healthcare workforce left medicine during the pandemic. This affects women twofold: both in securing providers for their own healthcare needs and for those of their family, as women tend to act as the guardians of their family’s health.
“It’s very concerning and there’s no end in sight,” Kazzaz said. “Most physicians who left healthcare during the pandemic didn’t retire. The pandemic increased a load that led to early retirements and a lot of people leaving the healthcare professions. We still struggle fully staffing our office and the hospitals are struggling as well.”
4. Osteoporosis
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the decades after age 50 is the riskiest time for women’s bones, when half of them experience osteoporosis-related breaks, compared with only 20% of men.
Brittle bones can lead to significant downturns in women’s health. A study in Acta Orthopaedica, a peer reviewed journal that publishes basic and clinical research in the field of orthopedics and related subdisciplines, sates that 21% of people who receive surgical repair for a broken hip die within a year.
Kerri Howell, online personal trainer and nutrition coach and owner of The Hourglass Mom, LLC in Rochester, recommends that women strength-train.
“Women can turn around osteoporosis if they start lifting weights,” she said.
Lifting weights works to build bones in two ways. The strain of muscles working helps build more bone where they’re connected. Plus, women are engaging in weight-bearing exercise.
5. Weight loss
Although it’s laudable that many women want to work on losing weight, Howell said that it’s commonplace to go about it in the wrong way.
“They lack muscle,” Howell said. “For years, women have been marketed to do endless cardio and eat less and eat low-fat food when in reality, they should be lifting weights. So many women don’t lift weights. They think they’ll be bulky or it will be hard. We don’t have an obesity problem we have an under-muscled problem.”
She also warned that reliance on drugs like Ozempic alone for weight loss is not enough, as women aren’t eating enough and lose muscle tone. This effect can kick off a “starvation mode” in the body, which causes the body to hoard calories as stored fat, particularly in women who aren’t exercising enough.
“They really need a trainer and nutrition coach to avoid losing muscle and when they go off it, make sure they have the habits they need,” Howell said.