The first peer-reviewed analysis of responses to the Women’s Reproductive Health Survey have now been published. The survey, which launched in autumn 2023, aimed to capture the reproductive health and experiences of women and people assigned female at birth.

Commissioned by the UK Government’s Department for Health and Social Care and undertaken by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the survey asked questions around periods, menopause, reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, and infertility and pregnancy loss.

With almost 60,000 responses, the survey is the largest of its kind to be undertaken in England to date.

The findings from the survey have highlighted how common negative reproductive health experiences are and that important inequalities exist across many different aspects of reproductive health.

If the results were applied to the population of 16-55-year-old women living in England, it is estimated that more than 10 million women are currently dealing with, or have recent experience of, at least one of the reproductive health related issues examined.

Key findings:

• Almost 75% of participants aged 16-55 had recent experience of at least one of the reproductive health issues we asked about.
• Among those aged 16-24, 1 in 3 reported severely painful periods and more than half experienced heavy menstrual bleeding in the last year.
• Among those aged 40-55, 2 in 3 participants experienced hot flushes and/or night sweats in the last year.
• Among those in their 30s, more than 1 in 10 reported experience of pregnancy loss or infertility in the last year.
• 1 in 3 reported having a reproductive condition, such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids, pelvic organ prolapse, or cervical, ovarian, uterine, or breast cancer.
• Women from minority ethnic groups, particularly black women, were more likely to report reproductive conditions, menstrual issues, and pregnancy-related adverse experiences.

• There was a strong association between financial status and reproductive health, with those who were struggling financially having poorer reproductive health.

   

Dr Melissa Palmer, Assistant Professor at LSHTM and lead author on the study, said: “This is the first study to look at such a wide range on reproductive health related experiences in a single group of people, meaning that for the first time, we have been able to estimate the percentage of women and people assigned female at birth who are experiencing – or have recent experience of - any reproductive health issue.

“Often reproductive health issues have been looked at in isolation to one another – but this can make these issues seem relatively uncommon. For example, we often hear that 1 in 10 women have endometriosis. When we look across a wide range of experiences, we found that almost 3 in 4 of the women surveyed are currently dealing with some kind of reproductive health issue.

“It is a stark finding that almost three-quarters of those surveyed reported recent experience of at least one reproductive health related issues we examined. We know there are important ethnic inequalities in maternal health in Britain – our findings suggest that these extend to other aspects of reproductive health.”

Dr Rebecca French, Professor of Reproductive Health at LSHTM, said: “Menstrual health is generally an under-researched topic in the UK, but almost a third of 16 to 24 year olds surveyed experience severe period pain, and more than half report heavy menstrual bleeding.”

Dr Ona McCarthy, Assistant Professor at LSHTM, said: “We found inequalities according to financial status – those who reported they were finding it difficult to get by financially were significantly more like to report reproductive health issues.”

The research team worked closely with voluntary partners Birth Companions, Brook, LGBT Foundation and Race Equality Foundation to increase awareness of the survey.

Publication

Palmer MJ, McCarthy, OL and French RS. The Burden of Poor Reproductive Health in England: Results From a Cross-Sectional Survey. BJOG. DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.18133