News

IN THE NEWS: “Mistreatment of Michigan farmworkers: U-M researchers document abuses, push for change” with Center Core Faculty Alexis Handal, PhD, MPH and Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, PhD, MPH, MA

“There are multisystem failures in the protection of farmworkers in Michigan,” said Iglesias-Rios, a research investigator at the U-M School of Public Health. “We identified dimensions of precarious employment and labor exploitation that involve lacking access to fundamental labor and social rights, including dehumanization, discriminatory occupational practices and insufficient access to health care and social benefits.”

» More at Michigan News (English / Inglés)

» More at Michigan News (Spanish / Español)

Posted: October 27 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Yes, VMS Affects Races Differently, But More Research Still Needs to Be Done” in Newswires, featuring Center Core Faculty Siobán D. Harlow, PhD

Siobán Harlow, PhD

“It is clear that discrimination and structural racism play an important role in health broadly but getting the full story is difficult. It’s putting each of the little pieces together and understanding the overall picture — how do we integrate and understand the difference in the experience of the menopausal transition as a whole?”

» More at SheKnows

Posted: October 6 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Researchers Devise Scoring System to Forecast Future Health Risks for Women Ages 55-65” in Newswires, featuring SWAN Study research

Daniel H. Solomon, MD, MPH

Research yielding a prototype tool for predicting risk for significant decline in future health for women ages 55-65 developed by the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) has been published in the British medical journal BMJ Open. The prototype is based on a scoring system proven to be the first known method to predict health and physical function up to a decade in advance for women in the midlife when problems tend to accelerate, said lead author of the study Daniel H. Solomon, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School.

» More at Newswires

Posted: October 5 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Menopause Is Different for Women of Color” in the New York Times, featuring SWAN Study research and comments from SWAN Study Leadership

Sherri-Ann Burnett-Bowie, MD, MPH

In a paper published last February, researchers concluded that the menopause symptom disparities between Black and white women might be explained by “structural racism” that led to “a greater disease burden” for Black women. The Black women in SWAN, the study notes, were more likely than white women to report financial instability, instances of discrimination, “trouble with the police, experiences of violence, as well as illness or death of close family members.” Those kinds of experiences can erode a person’s overall health and accelerate aging, said Dr. Sherri-Ann Burnett-Bowie, a co-author of the paper — a process known as “weathering”.

» More at New York Times

Posted: August 25 2023

ON THE RADIO: Center affiliate Alexis N. Reeves, PhD, MPH discusses menopause, research and the differing experiences of Black and Hispanic women

Alexis N. Reeves, PhD, MPH

“We all wanted to understand ‘What is the impact of systematically leaving these women out? What is the impact on the results within the study? What are we missing within the study for understanding Black and Hispanic women’s health through the menopausal transition?’”

» More at Stateside (interview with Dr. Reeves begins at 13:00)

Posted: August 22 2023

FEATURED PUBLICATION: “Phthalates and Incident Diabetes in Midlife Women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN)” with lead author and former Center Doctoral Student Mia Q. Peng, PhD, MPH

Mia Q. Peng, PhD, MPH

Featured Publication of the Week for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (August 2023), with lead author and former Center Doctoral Student Mia Q. Peng, PhD, MPH; additional authors include Center co-director Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH, Center Core Faculty member Sung Kyun Park, ScD, MPH and Center Affiliate Faculty William H. Herman, MD, MPH.

» More at Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Posted: August 09 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Exclusion of Black and Hispanic women from health studies masked racial disparities on menopausal aging” in Michigan Public Health, with comments from lead author and Center affiliate Alexis N. Reeves, MPH

Alexis N. Reeves, PhD, MPH

“We were able to quantify the racial differences in the rate of exclusion from SWAN due to earlier menopause, and then statistically account for it in SWAN’s data,” said Alexis Reeves, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University’s School of Medicine who conducted the work while a doctoral student at Michigan Public Health. “We found that Black and Hispanic women had statistically significant earlier natural, and particularly surgical, menopause than white women. The study suggests that this common bias may lead to underestimation of racial disparities in health and aging, and is important to consider in further research.”

Additional authors of the study include Center Director Siobán Harlow, Center Co-Director Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez and Center Associate Faculty Michael Elliott.

» More at Michigan Public Health News

» Read the original study at the International Journal of Epidemiology

Posted: July 6 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Why Perimenopause Can Throw Off Your Menstrual Cycle” in the New York Times, with comments from Center Director Siobán D. Harlow, PhD

Siobán Harlow, PhD

More than a third of women in the study, of which Dr. Harlow was a co-author, experienced periods that were so heavy they had to change their sanitary products every one to two hours [4 or more hours a day] for more than three days — compared with a more normal flow, which requires changing products every four to eight hours.

“At this life stage, it’s no longer true that women know when they’re going to bleed or how much they’re going to bleed,” Dr. Harlow said. Still, she added, this symptom is rarely studied or discussed among women themselves.

» More at New York Times

Posted: June 13 2023

CONGRATULATIONS!: Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, PhD, MPH, MA appointed Research Investigator

Lisbeth Iglesias Ríos, PhD, MPH

Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, PhD, MPH, MA has been appointed as a Research Investigator in the Center for Midlife Science. Dr. Iglesias-Ríos received her PhD in Epidemiological Science at University of Michigan in 2018, an MPH in Biostatistics from University of New Mexico in 2020, MA in Psychiatry and Medical Psychology from Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona in 2000.

Dr. Iglesias-Rios is the lead investigator of the Michigan Farmworker Project (MFP). Developed in 2019, in collaboration with Dr. Alexis Handal, the goal of this community-based participatory research program is to provide a deeper understanding of the complex working and living conditions of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the state of Michigan. The MFP seeks to examine the occupational and environmental health exposures experienced by farmworkers in Michigan and relate this understanding to broader social and structural determinants such as precarious employment and labor exploitation.

Posted: May 10 2023

CONGRATULATIONS!: Center Core Faculty Aleda Leis, PhD, MS awarded K12 Mentored Training Grant through Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR)

Aleda Leis, PhD, MS

Dr. Aleda Leis has been awarded a two-year K12 Mentored Training Grant through the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR). This award will provide resources for additional training and career development in cardiometabolic epidemiology, viral pathogenesis, and statistical methodology under her mentors Dr. Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, Dr. Emily Martin, and Dr. Michael Elliott.

Posted: May 03 2023

FEATURED PUBLICATION: “Associations Between Repeated Measures of Urinary Phthalate Metabolites With Hormones and Timing of Natural Menopause” with lead author and former Center Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ning Ding, PhD, MPH

Ning Ding, PhD, MPH

Featured Publication of the Week for the Journal of the Endocrine Society (April 2023), with lead author and former Center Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ning Ding, PhD, MPH; additional authors include Center Director Siobán D. Harlow, PhD, and Center Core Faculty members John F. Randolph, MD and Sung Kyun Park, ScD, MPH.

» More at Journal of the Endocrine Society

Posted: April 21 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Don’t Dread Menopause. Prepare for It Instead” with comments from Center Co-Director Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH

Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD

“Where you are health-wise going into menopause is really an important predictor of what your menopausal experience will be like and what your health will be like coming out on the other side of menopause,” said Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and an expert on women’s health and aging. “This is a seminal life event for more than half of our population and it’s really important that we give it the space and the attention that it deserves to help inform individuals about how to manage their menopause and understand what is happening.”

» More at Verywell Health

Posted: March 24 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Abortion access and reproductive justice” on Population Healthy, featuring Center Director Siobán D. Harlow, PhD (AUDIO 🔊)

Siobán Harlow, PhD

“When we think about the importance of safeguarding access to safe abortions, we have to recognize that pregnancy itself is not without risk. Pregnancy remains a significant cause of death, maternal death for women of reproductive age and the various complications of pregnancy can lead both to morbidity and to mortality, to illness and death.”

» More at Population Healthy

Posted: March 15 2023

PUBLISHED: “K-medoids clustering of hospital admission characteristics to classify severity of influenza virus infection” with lead author and Center Core Faculty Aleda Leis, PhD, MS

Aleda Leis, PhD, MS

“In this study of hospitalized influenza patients, we show that distinct clusters with higher disease acuity can be identified and could be targeted for evaluations of vaccine and influenza antiviral effectiveness against disease attenuation. The association of higher disease acuity with glucose level merits evaluation.”

» More at Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses

Posted: March 7 2023

IN THE NEWS: “Op-ed: Farmworkers’ vicious cycle of precarious employment, exploitation and climate change” authored by Michigan Farmworker Project Co-Investigator and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Lisbeth Iglesias Ríos, PhD, MPH

Lisbeth Iglesias Ríos, PhD, MPH

“The erosion of human and labor rights particularly affects farmworkers in the U.S., as farmworkers have been excluded from labor protections like minimum wage, workers’ compensation, overtime pay provisions or the right to unionize. These inequalities are product of decades of free-market policies that limit taxes and regulations, privatize public services like healthcare and retirement, obstruct or eliminate labor union rights, erode working conditions and safety standards, promote low-wage work and, in general, move away from social protections and emphasize personal responsibility for the choices (including health) people make. These social and economic conditions are a breeding ground for precarious and exploitative work. ”

» More at Environmental Health News

This essay is also available in Spanish.

Posted: March 03 2023

IN THE NEWS: Findings from SWAN Multi-Pollutant Study featured in “‘Forever chemicals’ up type 2 diabetes risk in midlife White women” with lead author and former Center Doctoral Student Mia Q. Peng

Mia Q. Peng, PhD, MPH

“Overall, our study has added some evidence to support the potential diabetogenic effects of phthalates, but it also highlights that much is still unknown about the metabolic effects of these chemicals. The apparent racial/ethnic differences in the associations between phthalates and incident diabetes should be investigated in future studies.”

Additional authors include Center Co-Director Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, Center Affiliate Faculty William Herman and Center Core Faculty Sung Kyun Park.

» More at mdedge.com

Posted: February 16 2023

PUBLISHED: “Fair Housing Access, Affordability, and Quality for Michigan Farmworkers During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond” auhored by Michigan Farmworker Project (MFP) Study Leads Alexis J. Handal, PhD MPH and Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, PhD MPH; commissioned by Michigan Department of Civil Rights

“This report presents the findings from interviews with farmworkers conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan. Our results emphasize the vulnerability of farmworkers and the challenges they face with housing affordability, access, and conditions, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

» More at “Fair Housing Access, Affordability, and Quality for Michigan Farmworkers During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond” (PDF)

Posted: January 18 2023

IN THE NEWS: SWAN Study featured in “How Menopause Affects Different Demographics” in Oprah Daily; with comments from SWAN Investigators Siobán D. Harlow, PhD and Sherri-Ann Burnett-Bowie, MD

“Black women were much more likely to report very frequent hot flashes—six days a week or more—than white women were,” says Siobán D. Harlow, PhD, SWAN study investigator and a professor of epidemiology and global public health in Michigan. Their symptoms also tended to be consistently severe for many years, whereas hot flashes in white women are more likely to taper off throughout perimenopause and menopause. “Black women, followed by Native American women, have the longest-lasting, most frequent, and most bothersome VMS of all the groups,” says Sherri-Ann Burnett-Bowie, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in Boston and one of the principal investigators for the SWAN study.

» More at Oprah Daily

Posted: December 12 2022

IN THE NEWS: SWAN Study featured in “Menopause and VMS by the Numbers” in Good Housekeeping; with comments from SWAN Investigator and Center Director Siobán D. Harlow, PhD

“It’s important not to trivialize vasomotor symptoms, particularly when they’re severe and/or frequent,” says Siobán D. Harlow, PhD, a professor of epidemiology and global public health in Michigan and one of the SWAN study investigators. “Saying they’re ‘bothersome’ makes them sound less disruptive than they really are, especially if they’re interfering with one’s sleep or quality of life.”

» More at Good Housekeeping

Posted: December 12 2022

VIDEO: “Truth about Race, Ethnicity and Menopause Care” Speakers include Center for Midlife Science Co-Director Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH

Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD

Did you know Black and Latina women enter menopause earlier and have longer lasting, more intense symptoms? Dr. Sharon Malone, Chief Medical Officer of Alloy will host an expert panel, which will include Omisade Burney-Scott, Creator and Curator of The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause, Dr. Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at University of Michigan's School of Public Health, and Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis, Fertility Doctor at UAMS Health.

» More at Let’s Talk Menopause on YouTube

Posted: October 27 2023