Research Findings

A new study from the Mayo Clinic has promising results for fracture prevention for women. The study links healthy muscles to healthy bones, especially for women in load-bearing areas such as the hip, lumbar spine and tibia.

The findings are published in the Journal of Bone & Mineral Research. 

Read more about what this means in their press release: Study Finds Gender Differences in Health Muscles, Bones.

Suicide rates are falling for boys but rising for girls, and suffocation is increasingly the method used, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The study uses data from Statistics Canada spanning the period from 1980 to 2008 showing different methods of suicide and trends over time. The study concludes that “More research is needed to understand these trends and develop initiatives to prevent suicide.”

Read Suicide among children and adolescents in Canada: trends and sex differences, 1980–2008

What’s the average age in Brandon MB?

How many women live in Steinbach MB? How many men? 

The answers to these questions, as well as other interesting facts, are now available by age group, gender and geography.

To view a profile of your community, follow the links to a variety of materials, including: 

·       Census Profile

·       Analytical products – main analytical article, and a few shorter articles providing additional analysis on trends and relevant issues relating to the 2011 Census 

·       Data products – basic tables, topic-based tabulations. 

Other 2011 Census data will be released on the following dates:

·       September 19, 2012 – families, households and marital status; structural type of dwelling and collectives

·       October 24, 2012 – language

If you have any questions, please contact Tara Petrie Duff, by e-mail at tara.petrieduff@statcan.gc.ca or by telephone at             204-984-4419      .

A recent study that compares birth control methods concludes that long-lasting methods such as IUDs (intrauterine devices) and hormonal implants are more effective at preventing pregnancy, although their effectiveness must be weighed against other factors, such as side effects, cost and future pregnancy plans.

Read the report of this study: Long-Lasting Birth Control Cuts Pregnancy Rate

Read a critique of how this story has been covered in the media, which looks at what the news report above doesn’t adequately cover, i.e. risks and costs of long-lasting birth control, on Healthnewsreview.org.

New research suggests that young women are much less likely than young men to be told by their doctors about how their cancer treatments can lead to their infertility.

Read the story by Amy Norton in Reuters Health, Women get less information on post-cancer fertility.

Girls and boys have many differences when it comes to their mental health, as revealed in The Health of Canada’s young people: A mental health focus, a 194-page report just released by the Public Health Agency of Canada

This report presents the findings from the 2010 Canadian survey, The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a cross-national study supported by the World Health Organization. 

Some of the gender differences reported include:

-       Girls had higher levels of emotional problems and lower levels of emotional well-being and life satisfaction than boys. Furthermore, while on many internalizing/emotional variables, boys’ scores remain fairly even across grades, scores for girls consistently worsen.

-       More girls than boys believe that their body is too fat, while more boys than girls see their body as too thin. By Grade 10, 39% of girls believe their body is too fat. The percentage of girls who believe their body is too fat represents a far greater percentage than girls who are overweight or obese.

-       Binge drinking and cannabis use have stronger negative relationships with mental health for girls when compared to boys, while having had sex links to poorer emotional well-being for girls but better emotional well-being for boys.

Find both the summary and the full report on the PHAC website at The Health of Canada’s Young People: A Mental Health Focus (2012)

A new study has shown that women over 70 who weight train are more likely to fend off dementia.

The research published on April 23 in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that "the resistance training program improved associative memory, which refers to the ability of one thought or memory to trigger another, like "green means go," as well as conflict resolution."

Read the CBC story, Weight training staves off dementia in older women.

Read the research article, Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment.

The Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR) in Vancouver has published the results of their randomized controlled trial of oral micronized progesterone (Prometrium, 300 mg at bedtime) for hot flushes and night sweats in healthy postmenopausal women

Their research finds that oral micronized progesterone offers an additional and effective therapeutic option for the treatment of hot flushes and night sweats in healthy women early in postmenopause.

They were studying progesterone, which, unlike medroxyprogesterone, does not increase venous thromboembolism.

The researchers do state that further research is needed (the study was small, 133 women) and that the trial “needs replication in less selected, more ethnically diverse populations, and in perimenopausal women.”

Read the article below, as it appears in Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society, Vol. 19, No. 8, pp. 000/000, DOI: 10.1097/gme.0b013e318247f07

Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society

Vol. 19, No. 8, pp. 000/000

DOI: 10.1097/gme.0b013e318247f07

How are women with mental health issues faring behind bars in Canada?

Very poorly, according to The International Human Rights Program’s new report Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading? Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading? Canada’s treatment of federally-sentenced women with mental health issues.

The report “concludes that the (Canadian) Correctional Service’s treatment of female prisoners with serious mental health issues is discriminatory, violates the rights to liberty and security of person, access to justice, and health, and in some circumstances constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Read the report summary and download the report here.

The Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence have produced a new report:

Overweight and Obesity in Pregnancy: A Review of Evidence by J. R. Bernier, Y. Hanson

This literature review focuses on the implications of maternal overweight and obesity, the experiences of pregnant women who are overweight or obese, and the provision of maternity care for overweight or obese women. Given the rise in rates of overweight and obesity in Canada and in many countries around the world in recent years, researchers, health care providers and policy makers have begun to focus more attention on the relationship between overweight and obesity and health. Of particular interest has been the impact of overweight and obesity on maternal and newborn health.

To read and to download a PDF of the review, please visit PWHCE's website.