The Lowdown’s April Newsletter

Hi everyone, Alice from The Lowdown here 👋

I’ve now been back from maternity leave for four big months. Whilst I often resemble a bedraggled, bald snail, it has been really good to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been reflecting on how it’s been coming back to work this year, and wanted to share my thoughts in the hope it helps anyone returning to work after creating a human.

In the meantime, the team and I have been talking and learning lots about perimenopause and HRT since we launched these areas on our website. Ever since I built v1 of The Lowdown in 2019, women have told me ‘You must do what you’ve done for contraception, for HRT’… so it’s really exciting to see reviews coming in.

Things we learnt this month… 🤯

The abortion pill could be used to treat other conditions in small doses💊

Last month we hosted our annual Women’s Health Summit. Our doctors absolutely smashed their talks and I didn’t trip on stage, so overall it was a successful evening. It’s always fun to bring together a mix of our community, industry peers, creators, and investors to create one big room full of people passionate about changing the state of women’s health. It’s a real feminist melting pot. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Lowdown event without some mic-dropping statistics, so here are a few snippets of what we learned…

💸It was announced last year that £25m was being allocated to women’s health across the country… but this money isn’t ring-fenced, meaning that health boards can actually use it on anything, and not for women’s health👀⁠

💊Using a tiny dose of the abortion pill Mifepristone could treat adenomyosis. A small study in China found that after about four weeks of use, 92% of participants had effective pain relief, and 89% had no pain.

📉There’s a huge difference in health equality between the North and South of England, across all areas of health. In the most deprived areas, there’s a 65% higher prevalence of cervical cancer, and 640 cases of endometrial (uterine) cancer every year are linked to deprivation. You’re also less likely to get an epidural during labour if you’re from a more deprived community.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿In Scotland, not a single person who has been vaccinated against HPV at the age of 12 or 13 has developed cervical cancer! And that’s even if they only had 1 dose of the vaccine.

Take a peek at the pics here, and if you’re feeling the FOMO don’t worry — there will be more!

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An oral spray vaccine to treat UTIs is being studied — and it tastes like🍍

Recurrent UTI sufferers, listen up. A new treatment could be coming your way in the form of an oral spray vaccine. Intrigued? Me too. While it’s a relatively small study (89 patients, 72 women and 17 men) it’s showing real promise. 54% of participants who were given the spray vaccine remained UTI-free for up to nine years after treatment, with no notable side effects. So for anyone who gets thrush from antibiotics for recurrent UTIs, this could be a game-changer. Plus, it apparently tastes like pineapple. We’ll be keeping an eye on the development of this research for sure.

OG Lowdown readers will know we personally love D-Mannose for preventing post-sex UTIs. Check out our blog below for a breakdown of D-Mannose studies that could have you breaking up with cranberry juice. (Keep reading to find out how you could win a free bottle 👀)

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An inaccurate study on the risks of HRT has now been disproven — but is it enough to undo the damage?🔍

Over 20 years ago, a major women’s health study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled 160,000 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. Part of the study looked at the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and the trial was halted when the results suggested that HRT was unsafe for many women. I highly recommend reading The Washington Post’s excellent summary of the lasting effects this had on the US population’s reluctance and distrust of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Now, follow-up research that reviewed the WHI, shows that the reporting of the study completely blew the risks of HRT out of proportion. This review of the research has found that for many younger menopausal women — typically those under 60 — the benefits most likely outweigh the risks for short-term treatment of menopause symptoms.

So far our first 100 insights into perimenopause show that 84% of people who have shared their experience on the Lowdown have used HRT, and rated their HRT experience “good” on average. The most-reviewed HRT methods are Oestrogel, an oestrogen gel applied to the skin, and Ovestin vaginal oestrogen cream.

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Endometriosis costs the UK £12.5 billion every year💵

Dr Becky, one of The Lowdown’s clinical leads & an expert researcher, recently published a paper on endometriosis care containing some fascinating statistics. Like…

📌On average, people with endo lose up to 11 hours of work per week thanks to their symptoms. This is on par with conditions like type 2 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

💬While endometriosis in adolescence used to be considered rare, the majority of people diagnosed recall experiencing symptoms in adolescence, and many remember not being offered timely treatment.

These are things we hear all too often, which is why we’re trying to build out our endometriosis insights to help inform research like this. You can anonymously share your story here if you’d like to contribute. We’ve also recently published multiple new blogs on endometriosis if you’re looking for support with your symptoms 👇

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In the news…📰🌍

💉In last month’s newsletter, I mentioned the rise of ‘Ozempic babies’, and experts are now warning that while the drug might make you more fertile, it also comes with the risk of miscarriage and birth defects, and shouldn’t be used during pregnancy.

🧠 An interesting study looking into the relationship between early menopause, cardiovascular risk and cognitive decline found that women who experienced menopause before the age of 49 and had higher cardiovascular risks were more prone to thinking and memory problems later in life compared to male participants.

⭐More innovation around pain relief and minimising bleeding during IUD fittings? Yes please.

🤰Pregnant and lactating women are often excluded from clinical trials due to concerns about there being a high legal liability, but a new report has found limited evidence of this. It suggests that the lack of information for pregnant and lactating women and healthcare providers about using a drug or vaccine is potentially more harmful than including them in research.

😞British women are sadder and more stressed than women in the EU. The cause? Poor access to NHS services, and minimal progress in improving women’s healthcare.

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Get involved: You have until Wednesday night to share your experience and receive a free supplement!📢

Until Wednesday, we’re giving everyone in the UK who shares their experience a FREE bottle of supplements worth £22.50 (first come first served!), as a thank you for supporting our mission.

At least, sharing your experience will help one other person. But it’s likely to help hundreds more as 100,000 women a month come to us for health information. The more you share through our platform, the more our insights can be used as evidence that we need better healthcare for everyone. 

To claim either a free bottle of our D-Mannose UTI supplement or Starflower oil for your hormonal health, complete one of our anonymous forms, and we’ll be in touch to send you your supplement of choice 👍

Post of the month📱

Dr Fran takes on the great hormone debate. Get involved here💬

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That’s it for this month’s newsletter! Wherever you’re reading, I hope these stats come in handy to whip out at your next dinner party/pub trip/work chat/coffee morning. Until next month👋

Thanks,