What You Missed | April 2026
Science moves fast, and interesting discoveries often pass by before we’ve had a chance to unpack them. This series is your monthly catch up with a science‑savvy friend – it’s evidence-based, accessible, and a little curious. Each post highlights exciting new women’s health or sex and gender research from around the globe and asks the question: what does this really tell us about how our minds, bodies, and societies work?
Authors: Romina Garcia de Leon and Tashi Stampp (Blog Coordinators)
Premenstrual Syndrome and Cognitive Impairments
Title: Persistent Impairment of Executive Functions in Premenstrual Syndrome: State or Trait?
Authors: Anna Madeleine Gnaiger, Patricia Werlein, Patricia Gruschwitz, Magdalena Siebers, Alina Panzik, Erika Comasco, Esmeralda Hidalgo-Lopez, Belinda Pletzer
Journal: Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
Where is this research coming from? Salzburg, Austria
Executive function is the brain’s management system, controlling things like working memory (how long information stays in one’s mind- a temporary storage system), response time (how fast people respond), inhibitory control (the ability to resist impulses), and cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt your thinking to new situations). Executive functions are often impaired in people with mood disorders, like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders. Researchers have also seen cognitive impairments in people with premenstrual syndromes (like Premenstrual mood disorder (PMS), or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)). The research being explored in this area generally tests people during the “symptomatic” phase of the menstrual cycle, usually the luteal phase (i.e. the phase that shows the most mood disturbances). What is not known however, is if these cognitive impairments are menstrual-phase-specific or considered a persistent symptom.
The authors of this paper found that those with premenstrual disorders showed worse executive function (working memory and inhibitory control) across all phases of the cycle, whereas healthy controls only showed a slight worsening of their working memory during the luteal phase. These cognitive impairments in people with PMDD were correlated with severity of symptoms and not cycle phase, as most of the literature to date have suggested.
What does this mean? People with PMS or PMDD have trouble concentrating, holding information, or staying mentally flexible not only before menstruating, when they are more likely to show mood disturbances, but throughout the menstrual cycle. The authors suggest that people with premenstrual disorders show “trait-like” executive function impairments that are essentially present at all times and not just during the phases of the cycle when they show symptoms.
Questions We’re Pondering
- Could these impairments be caused by an overactive stress response system that disrupts brain areas involved in working memory, like the hippocampus?
- Do executive function impairments begin at the start of symptoms, or earlier? The chicken or the egg dilemma – how do we know which came first?
- Do hormonal contraceptives (i.e. birth control) or antidepressant treatments help fix executive function impairments?
Influenza Vaccination and Alzheimer’s Disease
Title: Risk of Alzheimer Dementia After High-Dose vs Standard-Dose Influenza Vaccination
Authors: Avram Samuel Bukhbinder, Yaobin Ling, Lauren Jhin, Elizabeth He, Kristofer Harris, Mya Rodriguez, Jenna Thomas, Gabriela Cruz, Kamal Phelps, Yejin Kim, Luyao Chen, Xiaoqian Jiang, and Paul E. Schulz
Journal: Neurology
Where is this research coming from? Texas, United States
Approximately 11% of individuals over the age 65 have Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and women make up approximately 65-70% of the patient population. There is a need for prevention strategies in AD especially as the world population is growing older on average. Given that inflammation is a key marker of AD, some researchers are exploring how vaccination, which triggers an immune response, impacts AD risk. One study conducted by Taquet et al 2024 found that the shingles vaccine is associated with a 17% increase in delaying diagnosis, within a 6-year post-vaccination timeframe. Interestingly, this protective effect was stronger in women than in men.
In this study, the researchers studied the risk of AD between standard-dose versus high-dose influenza vaccines in those aged 65 years and older. High-dose vaccines are designed for adults aged 65 and older, and contain four times the antigen of standard-dose. This research was retrospective, meaning they used readily available database data and followed whether individuals were diagnosed with AD over a 3 year period. The researchers found that a high-dose flu vaccine decreased the risk of AD, and this protection was more robust in women than in men. Importantly, this risk was lowered in those individuals who had previously received flu vaccinations (specifically every 2 years).
What does this mean? Flu vaccines may go beyond protecting individuals from severe consequences of the flu to also ward off Alzheimer’s Disease, and this may be even more important for women. This is especially interesting as women are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, yet show greater and more robust effects of vaccination!
Questions We’re Pondering
- How many vaccinations, across how many years, are needed to see a link to lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease?
- Since women showed stronger effects and have stronger immune reactions to vaccines, could Alzheimer’s disease be more related to the immune system in women than in men?
- Is this same effect seen with COVID-19 vaccines? Is it too early to tell?
Gender Disparities in Higher Academia
Title: The Silent Standpoint: How Professors Explain Gender Disparities in Academia
Authors: Järvinen, M., & Mik‐Meyer, N.
Journal: The British Journal of Sociology
Where is this research coming from? Denmark
Women are still underrepresented across professor positions in academia, making up only 26% of full professors in social science departments in Denmark. Despite women’s heightened participation in higher education, few advance through the academic pipeline into senior and tenured positions. As a result, the beliefs and perceptions regarding gender equality in academic spaces warrant further qualitative exploration. This study explored male and female professors’ views on gender disparities in academia across fields (i.e., economics, political science and sociology). Through their interviews, the authors found that the perspectives between men and women were polarized. Although men and women discussed family-related or individual-level explanations, women explored university-internal explanations more frequently.
Tensions emerged in the interactions with male professors during interviews. The authors noted pauses and hesitancy through expressions like “this is a very difficult question” when asked about gender inequality in hiring and promotion. The authors suggest this might stem from male participants believing that bringing this up could come across as accusatory or even discriminatory. The authors use Accounting Theory, a sociological framework used to identify how people explain, justify or rationalize social issues and behaviour. This highlighted patterns of excuse-making and justifications throughout their analysis.
What does this mean? In Denmark, women in higher academia may continue to face barriers not only through institutional structures, but also through attitudes that overlook the system altogether. As seen in this study, their senior male colleagues in similar positions avoid the acknowledgement of internal barriers in hiring and promotion, which may lead to inequities persisting and becoming more difficult to uncover.
Questions We’re Pondering
- Around the globe, feminist ideas are sometimes interpreted as “anti-men”, how might informing professors of this perception before interviews change how they respond?
- The “fight for tenure” seems to be an uneven battle. If senior professors avoid institution-based explanations for gender disparities, how are these inequities being addressed? How can higher academics in positions of power start challenging these systems, even if they are professionally implicated by the institution?
- If women are being seen as “less qualified” for senior professorships, what does it mean for the production of sex- and gender-based research? How can academics navigate and move forward in this quietly burdened system?
Determinants of Postpartum Depression Remission
Authors: Gidén, K., Hess Engström, A., Iliadis, S. I., Skalkidou, A., & Fransson, E.
Journal: Journal of Affective Disorders
Where is this research coming from? Sweden
Postpartum depression is a widespread public health issue, with around 13-17% of women being affected. Yet studies that explore the perspectives of mothers navigating the mental health care system and their experience with symptom remission is limited.
In this study, new mothers in Sweden describe key factors that shape recovery from postpartum depression. The authors compiled their thoughts into five themes: (1) others take responsibility; (2) practical support; (3) emotional validation; (4) thresholds; and 5), struggling to prioritize oneself.
“I didn’t allow myself (…) to acknowledge it, even if I could see it in black and white, even if I recognized the feelings. I also blame the good-girl syndrome, that we women are supposed to be so damn good at everything all the time.” – (Woman participant, aged 28-42)
By mapping these themes, the authors developed a five-stage recovery model using a method called “Systematic Text Condensation”. The stages include: realization of symptoms, acceptance, recognizing the need for help, knowledge, and receiving help.
What does this mean? By outlining the stages from realization to receiving help, the study gives health professionals a clearer picture of what effective support looks like from mothers’ own perspectives. In short, this research reframes postpartum depression recovery as a gradual process of self-recognition and supported empowerment.
Questions We’re Pondering
- How much of struggling to prioritize yourself is truly personal, and how much is driven by gendered expectations of motherhood?
- Now let’s think about our society even more critically. If partners play a big role in recovery, why aren’t they more consistently included in screening or intervention strategies?
- As peer support networks and women’s health advocates, how can we keep pushing back against the stigma surrounding depressive thoughts after pregnancy?
