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Women's Health

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Women have unique health needs, and face inequity in both quality and outcomes of health care. RAND's work has highlighted gender gaps in health care access and quality, measured the health needs of specific female populations, evaluated programs aimed at improving outcomes, and demonstrated how policy impacts women's options.

Commentary

Policies That Punish Pregnant Women for Substance Use Don't Help Mother or Baby

Jan 28, 2020

About half of all U.S. states now have policies that criminalize substance use during pregnancy, consider it grounds for civil commitment, or consider it child abuse or neglect. But research suggests that punitive policies aren't beneficial for infants or their mothers.
Report

Investment in Women's Health Research Could Reap Large Societal Benefits

Oct 11, 2021

The potential gains from women-focused research are substantial, given the limitations in knowledge about disease development and impacts for women relative to men. Savings would include increased life years, fewer disruptions to work productivity, and fewer years with disease and functional dependence.

Explore Women's Health

Journal Article

Quality Framework for Remote Antenatal Care: Qualitative Study with Women, Healthcare Professionals and System-Level Stakeholders

This study offers a provisional framework that can help in structuring thinking, policy and practice. By outlining the range of domains relevant to remote antenatal care, this framework is likely to be of value in guiding policy, practice and research.

May 17, 2022
Journal Article

Association of Individual and Community Factors With Hepatitis C Infections Among Pregnant People and Newborns

US hepatitis C viral infections among pregnant women grew fastest among White and American Indian/Alaska Native people without a 4-year degree.

Mar 29, 2022
Journal Article

Lessons Learned Recruiting and Retaining Pregnant and Postpartum Individuals in Digital Trials

We collaborated to share lessons learned from our experiences recruiting and retaining pregnant and postpartum individuals in digital trials of social and behavioral interventions.

Mar 8, 2022
Multimedia

The Economic Benefits of Investing in Women's Health Research

RAND senior sociologist Chloe Bird explains that the benefits of investing in women's health research aren't limited to women's health, but rather include the potential for enormous economic gains.

Mar 7, 2022
Journal Article

Cannabis Legalization and Cannabis-Involved Pregnancy Hospitalizations in Colorado

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the association between presence of recreational cannabis dispensaries and prevalence of cannabis-involved pregnancy hospitalizations in Colorado.

Mar 4, 2022
Journal Article

Impact of Telelactation Services on Breastfeeding Outcomes Among Black and Latinx Parents: Protocol for the Tele-MILC Randomized Controlled Trial

We present a protocol for the digital Tele-MILC trial, which uses mixed methods to evaluate the impact of telelactation services on breastfeeding outcomes.

Mar 4, 2022
Blog

Refugees, Women's Health Research, Supporting Incarcerated Parents: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the humanitarian fallout from a Russian invasion of Ukraine, investing in women’s health research, supporting incarcerated parents, and more.

Feb 18, 2022
Commentary

Underfunding of Research in Women's Health Issues Is the Biggest Missed Opportunity in Health Care

For far too long, the medical sciences have treated men and women as interchangeable subjects, favoring men's health for funding and the male body for study. This approach creates a problem, not just for women but for everyone. Not only does it miss a large and critical slice of the population, it leaves an unknown amount of science unexplored.

Feb 11, 2022
Report

Societal Impact of Research Funding for Women's Health in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The authors find that small investments are likely to yield large gains from increasing research funding in rheumatoid arthritis; investing in women's health research yields benefits above investing in general research.

Jan 25, 2022
Journal Article

Money and My Mind: Maternal Cash Transfers and Mental Health

This paper documents important mental health spillovers in the context of a program that offered pregnant women modest cash incentives to use pre- and perinatal health care services.

Nov 10, 2021
Journal Article

A Comparison of Approaches to Identify Live Births Using the Medicaid Analytic eXtract

This study described and validated five approaches to identifying births using Medicaid data.

Nov 3, 2021
Blog

China and Russia, Wages and Insurance, Refugees and Technology : RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on China-Russia ties, considerations when raising the minimum wage, how refugees use digital devices, and more.

Oct 15, 2021
Journal Article

Cost Analysis of a Randomized Trial of Getting to Outcomes Implementation Support for a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Offered in Boys and Girls Clubs in Alabama and Georgia

This study estimated the cost of adding Getting To Outcomes implementation support to a teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection prevention evidence-based program called Making Proud Choices in 32 Boys and Girls Clubs in Alabama and Georgia.

Oct 13, 2021
Report

The Impact of Funding Heart Disease Research Focused on Women

Physiological differences between men and women affect factors that relate to the development and progression of heart disease. Increasing investment in women's health research on coronary artery disease could yield considerable societal gains, including increased health-related quality of life and labor productivity.

Oct 11, 2021
Journal Article

Pregnant Women with Substance Use Disorders: The Harm Associated with Punitive Approaches

Punishing pregnant women with SUDs has been ineffective; it's time to prioritize approaches that support pregnant women and their families.

Aug 31, 2021
Essay

Reducing Disparities in Infant Mortality: Using Big Data to Help Babies at Risk

Black babies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—and across America—face much higher mortality rates than white babies. Researchers pulled together thousands of data points on more than 150,000 births to better predict who is at risk and how to help them.

Jul 1, 2021
Commentary

Mothers Need a Continuous System of Care Even After Babies Are Born

In the United States, babies are born into a system of well-child care—a series of planned health care visits designed to protect their health from day one through age six. But no such system exists for their mothers. How do we create a system of health care for mothers that mirrors well-child care?

May 10, 2021
Report

Informing the Development of Standardized Clinical Definitions of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: Results of Two Modified-Delphi Expert Panels

The authors describe the results of two modified-Delphi expert panels used to inform the work of a federal steering committee on the development of clinical definitions of neonatal abstinence syndrome and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.

May 3, 2021
Report

The Impact of Funding Brain Health Research Focused on Women

An examination of the impact of increased funding for research on Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias in women showed that small investments in women's health research can yield large gains, including benefits above investing in general research.

Apr 22, 2021

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