Health Awareness

Lupus

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects more women than men. If a woman have lupus, her risk is higher for other health problems that are common in women, such as heart disease and osteoporosis.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a serious threat for many women. Knowing the signs of an abusive relationship and how to leave a dangerous situation are the keys we will bring to the concert. Along with counseling and broachers of how to combat such moving forward.

Lupus

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects more women than men. If you have lupus, your risk is higher for other health problems that are common in women, such as heart disease and osteoporosis

Weight and obesity

More than 2 in 3 women in the United States have overweight or obesity. Extra weight leads to many diseases that affect women, such as heart disease, diabetes, and many cancers. It can be difficult to talk about your weight with a doctor or nurse. A doctor or nurse you feel comfortable with can be a powerful partner in helping you reach a healthier weight.

You can use the body mass index (BMI) to find out whether your weight is in a healthy or unhealthy range. BMI is a tool to estimate body fat. Find your BMI by typing your height and weight into this BMI calculator from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Women with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight.
Women with a BMI of 30 or more have obesity.

BMI gives you a good idea of how healthy your weight is. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. BMI is less accurate in some people than in others. For example, if you are very muscular, you may be healthy even if your BMI is above 25. This is because muscle weighs more than fat.

Another way to figure out if you have a healthy weight is to measure your waist circumference (the distance around your waist). Researchers and doctors have agreed that women with a waist circumference larger than 35 inches are at higher risk for many health problems caused by overweight or obesity.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar (glucose) levels in your body are too high. Diabetes can cause serious health problems, including heart attack or stroke, blindness, problems during pregnancy, and kidney failure. About 15 million women in the United States have diabetes, or about 1 in every 9 adult women.

Pelvic Floor Disorders

Pelvic floor disorders are more common than you think and can occur at any age. At least one in three women will experience a pelvic floor disorder in her lifetime, and one in four women older than 20 suffers from pelvic floor symptoms like urine or stool leakage. If you’re one of them, you know how much these symptoms can disrupt your daily life.One in five women will need to undergo surgery to treat a pelvic floor disorder. Unfortunately, 30 percent of these women face the risk of needing repeat surgery, which is why our urogynecologic surgeons at the University of Chicago Medicine are committed to personalized treatment and cutting-edge research.

Sex Trafficking

While boys and men are victims as well, most individuals identified as trafficked for both labor and commercial sex are women and girls. For every 10 victims detected globally, five are adult women and two are girls, according to a report released in 2021 by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (PDF, 18MB).What effects does human trafficking have on women and girls? The physical and mental health effects of human trafficking are serious. It can cause a loss of basic human rights, loss of one’s childhood, disruption in families, and severe mental health consequences, including anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse.

Infertility

Infertility impacts millions of people in the United States and around the world. National Infertility Awareness Week, which runs from April 24 – 30, is a national week of action that aims to destigmatize infertility and draw attention to the many barriers people face when trying to access fertility care to build their families. The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define infertility as the inability to become pregnant after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. In the United States, an estimated 19% of married, heterosexual women struggle to become pregnant while an estimated 30% of infertility cases are diagnosed as male-factor. Deeply entrenched racial and ethnic disparities in health that disproportionately impact Black women in the United States are also seen in their rates of infertility and access to care. Indeed, Black women are nearly twice as likely as their non-Hispanic white counterparts to experience infertility, but only half as likely to receive treatment.

Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves. Symptoms start slowly. The first symptom may be a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also may cause stiffness or slowing of movement.

In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, your face may show little or no expression. Your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson's disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time.

Although Parkinson's disease can't be cured, medicines might significantly improve your symptoms. Occasionally, a health care professional may suggest surgery to regulate certain regions of your brain and improve your symptoms.