Female hormones can impact not only reproductive health but also the cardiovascular, immune and digestive systems. As levels fluctuate significantly, the advancements of wearables create opportunities to monitor continuously and more accurately. This article explores new technology and the possibilities that the data could be used to predict and optimise treatment for women.
Introduction:
Healthcare technology has rapidly evolved in the past five years particularly the use of wearables incorporated into many people’s lives to collect data to help manage their health better. Alongside the global expansion of FemTech solutions which refers to technology designed to meet the health needs of women. Ranging from diagnostic tools, online platforms, wearable devices to connected mobile apps, all targeting different health conditions and reproductive phases across a women’s life. Often they are designed to empower women in the management of their health by providing them with personalised health data, supporting informed decisions and encouraging improvements in their health.
One area that could have an impact upon better prevention, diagnostics and optimising treatment for women those FemTech solutions addressing hormonal health and specifically monitoring hormonal levels. Could these technological advancements deliver precision medicine for women through more accurate assessment and monitoring of their hormonal health.
Hormones are essential for maintaining overall health and well-being, acting as chemical messengers that regulate key bodily functions such as metabolism, growth, mood, and reproduction. When hormone levels become unbalanced, they can contribute to various health concerns. For example, research shows the link between the digestive disorder, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and oestrogen and progesterone hormones by affecting the epidemiology, symptoms and treatment outcomes . Women are twice more likely than men to suffer from IBS .
A women’s hormone levels will fluctuate across her life and even within a 24 hour cycle, with some stages like puberty, pregnancy and menopause causing more dramatic changes.
These fluctuations can create challenges for measuring hormonal levels, often assessments involve blood tests to measure hormone levels. This means a ‘snapshot’ result of the individual’s hormone level on that specific time and day which doesn’t address hormonal fluctuations across the 24 hour cycle. Individual variability is also not accounted for as the comparison against the “normal” range is usually so wide that the women is unlikely to get “abnormal” results. However, the standard menopause assessment within NHS primary care pathways for women aged over 45 years will usually include one or two blood tests to measure levels of various hormones (e.g. oestrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone) .
The impact of unreliable blood tests upon women has anecdotally created huge variations in diagnosis. The UK government’s call for evidence to develop their women’s health strategy in 2022 found that many women often had their symptoms dismissed because they were written off as ‘too young’ to be going through the menopause or not displaying the ‘obvious’ symptoms such as hot flushes, with their preferences ignored, particularly when requesting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) .
