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Women in midlife are often ignored when it comes to medical research, especially Asian women. The Integrated Women’s Health Programme in Singapore is studying female-specific health issues such as menopause, osteoporosis, pre-diabetes, urinary incontinence and poor sleep. CNA Women finds out what it has revealed so far.
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Along-term programme by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the National University Hospital (NUH) is aiming to answer questions about the health of midlife women in Singapore and close the gender healthcare gap.
Ethnicity and gender play a part in how health conditions present in individuals, and much of the medical research in the past has been based on Western participants, which may not apply to Asians.
This unique study, which recruited 1,201 women, focuses on the key health concerns of midlife women in Singapore, looking at female-specific health issues such as menopause, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension, urinary incontinence, poor sleep and hip fractures.
The IWHP is the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal cohort study of midlife women in Asia. It’s not just that it focuses on the health of women in midlife – a critical but often overlooked demographic – but the fact that it’s a longitudinal study is unique too.
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Prof Yong, one of Singapore’s leading medical researchers
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“Even within Singapore, there
are different ethnic groups with
different genetic dispositions, and it
is expected that their symptoms and
conditions will differ,” he added.
“For example, Indians are genetically
more closely related to Caucasians and may
therefore differ from Chinese and Malays,
who are more related to East-Asian genotypes.
Baseline recruitment took place between 2014 and 2016, and the study began with 1,201 women aged between 45 and 69 years old, who were healthy and free of serious illnesses at the time.
The study followed up with this group at the six-year mark, from 2020 to 2023. Funding from the NMRC has been secured for the third follow-up visit, the 12-year follow-up, which is scheduled to start in 2026.
“All women participate in evaluations with the same set of questions at every visit, so that we can track the progression of multiple diseases as they age,” he added.
Baseline recruitment took place between 2014 and 2016, and the study began with 1,201 women aged between 45 and 69 years old, who were healthy and free of serious illnesses at the time.
The study followed up with this group at the six-year mark, from 2020 to 2023. Funding from the NMRC has been secured for the third follow-up visit, the 12-year follow-up, which is scheduled to start in 2026.
“All women participate in evaluations with the same set of questions at every visit, so that we can track the progression of multiple diseases as they age,” he added.
