Women's health

Women are most of the world’s population, but for many years, much health research has focused on men. Women face unique health choices about birth control, cancer screening, preventing osteoporosis, and treating menopause symptoms. Studies by Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) investigators are helping women make the best decisions for a long and healthy life.

“We’re studying all the major health experiences and conditions of women’'s lives,” said Katherine M. Newton, PhD, GHRI senior investigator and associate director of Research & External Relations. In addition to studying “equal-opportunity” conditions such as heart disease, which are common in men and women, Group Health investigators are researching health issues that affect more women than men:

Results from GHRI studies are used to improve care locally for Group Health members, and globally. Work by Delia Scholes, PhD, GHRI senior investigator, has contributed to broadly adopted public health policies such as Chlamydia screening to reduce pelvic inflammatory disease and contraceptive guidelines from the World Health Organization. “It’s been wonderful to find that what we are learning at Group Health can be part of improved health care for women everywhere,” Dr. Scholes said.

Since 2007, GHRI has hosted postdoctoral researchers in women’s health, through a T32 Training Award called “Health Care Improvement for Aging Women,” from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Andrea LaCroix, PhD, GHRI senior investigator, is the principal investigator and director of the program and Drs. Newton and Scholes are co-directors.

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GHRI researchers in women's health

Affiliate researchers

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Recent publications on women's health

2010

Beasley JM, Ichikawa LE, Ange BA, Spangler L, LaCroix AZ, Ott SM, Scholes D. Is protein intake associated with bone mineral density in young women? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2010, 91 (5):1311-1316. PubMed

Fishman PA, Bonomi AE, Anderson ML, Reid RJ, Rivara FP. Changes in health care costs over time following the cessation of intimate partner violence. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Apr 23. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Ludman EJ, Ichikawa LE, Simon GE, Rohde P, Arterburn D, Operskalski BH, Linde JA, Jeffery RW. Breast and cervical cancer screening specific effects of depression and obesity. Am J Prev Med. 2010;38(3):303-10. PubMed

Newton KM, Reed SD, Grothaus LC, LaCroix AZ, Nekhlyudov L, Ehrlich K, Ludman EJ. Hormone therapy discontinuation: physician practices after the Women's Health Initiative. Menopause. 2010 Jul;17(4):734-40. Epub 2010 Apr 23. PubMed

Scholes D, Hawn TR, Roberts PL, Li SS, Stapleton AE, Zhao LP, Stamm WE, Hooton TM. Family history and risk of recurrent cystitis and pyelonephritis in women. J Urol. 2010;184(2):564-9. Epub 2010 Jun 19. PubMed

Scholes D, Ichikawa L, LaCroix AZ, Spangler L, Beasley JM, Reed S, Ott SM. Oral contraceptive use and bone density in adolescent and young adult women. Contraception. 2010 Jan;81(1):35-40. PubMed

Taplin SH, Abraham L, Geller BM, Yankaskas BC, Buist DS, Smith-Bindman R, Lehman C, Weaver D, Carney PA, Barlow WE. Effect of previous benign breast biopsy on the interpretive performance of subsequent screening mammography. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2010;102(14):1040-51. Epub 2010 Jul 2. PubMed

2009

Reed SD, Ludman EJ, Newton KM, Grothaus L, LaCroix AZ, Nekhyludov L, Spangler L, Jordan L, Ehrlich K, Bush T. Depressive symptoms and menopausal burden in the midlife. Maturitas. 2009, 62:306-310. PubMed

Albain KS, Barlow WE, Ravdin PM, Farrar WB, Burton GV, Ketchel SJ, Cobau CD, Levine EG, Ingle JN, Pritchard KI, Lichter AS, Schneider DJ, Abeloff MD, Henderson IC, Muss HB, Green SJ, Lew D, Livingston RB, Martino S, Osborne CK. Adjuvant chemotherapy and timing of tamoxifen in postmenopausal patients with endocrine-responsive, node-positive breast cancer: a phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2009;374(9707):2055-63. Epub 2009 Dec 10. PubMed

Bonomi AE, Anderson ML, Reid RJ, Rivara FP, Carrell D, Thompson RS. Medical and psychosocial diagnoses in women with a history of intimate partner violence. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(18):1692-7. PubMed

Buist DS, Anderson ML, Reed SD, Aiello Bowles EJ, Fitzgibbons ED, Gandara JC, Seger D, Newton KM. Short-term hormone therapy suspension and mammography recall: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150(11):752-65. PubMed

Spangler L, Reed SD, Nekhyludov L, Grothaus L, LaCroix AZ, Newton KM. Provider attributes associated with hormone therapy prescribing frequency. Menopause. 2009;16(4):810-16. PubMed

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Our major research interests

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