Women’s Health

Women’s health covers conditions that affect only people with female reproductive anatomy, conditions that affect women more often or differently, and the care built around periods, contraception and menopause. It is also one of the least researched areas of medicine. This page is a way in to the specific conditions.

Conditions in this area

• Hot flashes and night sweats: the most common symptom of menopause, reported by 62 per cent of Canadian women aged 40 to 60 in a national survey.
• Premenstrual syndrome and PMDD: physical and mood changes in the second half of the cycle that settle once a period starts, ranging from mild to disabling.
• Endometriosis: tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the pelvis, causing pain and sometimes affecting fertility. Health Canada puts it at about 1 in 10 people of reproductive age.
• Menopausal hormone therapy: taking estrogen, usually with a progestogen, for menopause symptoms, and what is known about the balance of benefit and risk.
• Oral contraception: the daily pill, how the different types work, and what to weigh alongside other conditions.
• Low sexual desire: persistent loss of desire that causes distress, which is not the same as simply wanting sex less often.
• Urinary incontinence: urine leaking when you do not intend it to, affecting about 34 per cent of women in Canada in a pooled analysis.
• Overactive bladder: a sudden strong need to pass urine as the main problem, with frequency by day and waking at night.
• Breast cancer: about 32,400 women in Canada are expected to be diagnosed in 2026, an average of 89 a day.

What these conditions have in common

Most of this list is influenced by hormones that shift across a month, a pregnancy and a lifetime, which is why the same symptom can mean different things at 25 and at 55. These conditions also cluster: pelvic pain, bladder symptoms and painful periods often turn up together. Menopause runs through much of the list, because the drop in estrogen affects sleep, mood, bladder tissue and bone as well as temperature control.

One thing that genuinely unites them is not biological: these conditions have been studied less than their prevalence warrants. Endometriosis routinely takes years to diagnose. Menopause is still rarely raised proactively by a family physician. About 7 per cent of Canadian research project grants over 15 years went to women’s health.

Treatment and management in Canada

Clinical research for Women’s Health is enrolling. See the current studies ↓

Care is usually shared between primary care and, where needed, an obstetrician-gynaecologist, urologist, menopause clinic or cancer centre. A team may discuss:

• Hormonal options, including menopausal hormone therapy and hormonal contraception
• Non-hormonal medicines for hot flashes, bladder symptoms, pain and mood
• Pelvic floor physiotherapy and bladder retraining, which come first for several bladder problems
• Surgery where indicated, including for endometriosis and breast cancer
• Cancer treatment pathways, including radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapy
• Counselling, sexual health support and menopause-informed workplace accommodation

These conditions affect anyone with the relevant anatomy, including transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse people. Several of these choices involve weighing benefits against risks over years. They are decisions for you and your own clinician, and nothing here is a recommendation about any of them.

When to talk to a doctor

• Heavy vaginal bleeding with dizziness or fainting, or sudden severe pelvic pain, needs emergency care. Call 911 or go to an emergency department.
• Any vaginal bleeding after menopause should be assessed promptly, even if it happens once.
• A new breast lump, skin dimpling, a change in a nipple or new discharge should be assessed promptly.
• Fever with pelvic pain or foul-smelling discharge needs same-day care.
• Pelvic pain that stops normal activities, or periods that soak through protection every hour, is worth an appointment rather than another cycle of waiting.
• Bladder leaking or urgency is common but not something you have to live with.

Why research in this area matters

Women were left out of clinical research for most of the twentieth century, partly out of concern about pregnancy and partly because sex differences were assumed not to matter. Canadian funders now require researchers to account for sex and gender, yet a review of 15 years of grants found the share going to women’s health stayed flat. The result is a set of open questions: what helps endometriosis pain, which non-hormonal options work for hot flashes, and how heart disease presents differently in women.

If you consider taking part, the terms are the same across the country. Participation is voluntary, you give informed consent first, and you can withdraw at any time without affecting your regular care. No one can say in advance whether a study will help you personally.

Learn more from Canadian sources

• Sex and U, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada
• Menopause Foundation of Canada
• Canadian Cancer Society: breast cancer
• The Endometriosis Network Canada
• Canadian Continence Foundation