PLoS medicine

Despite affecting 190 million women worldwide, endometriosis remains underdiagnosed, under-researched, and underfunded. Tackling awareness gaps, diagnostic delays, and inadequate treatment requires earlier education, increased funding, and …

BACKGROUND: Sex hormones have been implicated in leukemogenesis, but evidence regarding hormonal contraceptive use and leukemia risk remains limited and primarily based on older formulations. Given the widespread use of contemporary hormona…

BACKGROUND: Hormonal contraceptives (HCs) are widely used and have well-documented population-level statistics. Previous studies with short follow-ups have focussed on individual HC use and side effects. However, the same aspects over longe…

BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests that prenatal or early-life exposure to antibiotics may contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases in children. However, previous studies investigating this association have yielded conflicti…

BACKGROUND: Opportunistic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) is recommended in women who have undergone a hysterectomy due to gynecological carcinomas and/or in women with genetic indications, especially for women who do not intend to co…

BACKGROUND: Different endometrial preparation protocols are used prior to frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Optimization of endometrial preparation protocols is mandatory to improve live birth rate and obstetric and perinatal outcomes. I…

BACKGROUND: There is indication that the fallopian tubes might be involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis and their removal reduces cancer risk. Hence, bilateral salpingectomy during hysterectomy or sterilization, so called opportunistic sa…

BACKGROUND: A higher risk of placenta previa after assisted reproductive technology (ART) is well established. The underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, but may relate to embryo culture duration, cryopreservation, and cause of infert…

BACKGROUND: Existing data on the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) during late pregnancy is well established, providing assurance. However, the use of NSAIDs during early pregnancy remains inconclusive owing to conflictin…

BACKGROUND: The association between assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and the body mass index (BMI) of children remains controversial. Confounding by morbidity and other factors associated with parental infertility may have biased s…

BACKGROUND: Hysteroscopic resection is the first-choice treatment for symptomatic type 0 and 1 fibroids. Traditionally, this was performed under general anesthesia. Over the last decade, surgical procedures are increasingly being performed …

BackgroundMultimorbidity prevalence rates vary considerably depending on the conditions considered in the morbidity count, but there is no standardised approach to the number or selection of conditions to include.Methods and findingsWe cond…

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003679.].

BACKGROUND: Obesity is observationally associated with altered risk of many female reproductive conditions. These include polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), abnormal uterine bleeding, endometriosis, infertility, and pregnancy-related disorde…

BACKGROUND: Increased risk of miscarriage has been reported for women with specific chronic health conditions. A broader investigation of chronic diseases and miscarriage risk may uncover patterns across categories of illness. The objective…

BACKGROUND: There is emerging interest in multimorbidity in type 2 diabetes (T2D), which can be either concordant (T2D related) or discordant (unrelated), as a way of understanding the burden of disease in T2D. Current diabetes guidelines a…

BACKGROUND: Various risk factors have been associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk in observational epidemiological studies. However, the causal nature of the risk factors reported, and thus their suitability as effective interventio…

BACKGROUND: Attention to women's and girls' menstrual needs is critical for global health and gender equality. The importance of this neglected experience has been elucidated by a growing body of qualitative research, which we systematicall…

BACKGROUND: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy, and its incidence and associated mortality are increasing. Despite the immediate need to detect these cancers at an earlier stage, there is no effective screening met…

BACKGROUND: The importance of maternal sanitation behaviour during pregnancy for birth outcomes remains unclear. Poor sanitation practices can promote infection and induce stress during pregnancy and may contribute to adverse pregnancy outc…

BACKGROUND: While melanocytic nevi have been associated with genetic factors and childhood sun exposure, several observations also suggest a potential hormonal influence on nevi. To test the hypothesis that nevi are associated with breast t…

In a linked Perspective, Barbara Fuhrman and Victor Cardenas discuss the potential biological mechanisms that may underlie the association between nevi and risk for breast cancer. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

BACKGROUND: Breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers share some hormonal and epidemiologic risk factors. While several models predict absolute risk of breast cancer, there are few models for ovarian cancer in the general population, and non…

BackgroundThe vast majority of medical interventions introduced into clinical development prove unsafe or ineffective. One prominent explanation for the dismal success rate is flawed preclinical research. We conducted a systematic review of…

David Studdert and colleagues identified disputes over informed consent among malpractice claims and serious health care complaints in Australia and provide an analysis of disagreements between patients and doctors over whether particular c…