Current Women's Health Reviews - Volume 21, Issue 2, 2025

A surrogate uterus is one of the methods of artificial reproduction in the treatment of infertility that has profound consequences in religion, law, ethics and society and is done with the intervention of a third party. This research provides a general overview of jurisprudential legitimacy in the field of surrogacy in some Middle Eastern countries (Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine) in comparison to Iran in order to fill the research gap as much as possible.

A comparative approach to the legitimacy of uterine surrogacy in jurisprudence in Iran and some Muslim countries in the Middle East.

This review article was conducted from November 2022 to April 2023 in order to examine the comparative rights of surrogacy in Iran and some Middle Eastern countries from studies published between 1970-2021 in the reliable database and other jurisprudential texts.

The majority of Sunni Muslim countries have announced the prohibition of surrogacy and the invalidity of contracts concluded in this regard. In Iran, with religious permission, it has had more social acceptance, and jurists and jurists prescribe surrogacy contracts. However, the legislator's silence in this regard will have an effect on the emergence of different procedures in different regions of Iran.

Basically, increasing the adoption and implementation of surrogate pregnancy in different societies of the Middle East requires more jurisprudential and legal efforts. So that the couples involved in this type of fertility and the children born are kept safe from possible harm.

Urinary tract infection (UTIs) is the most common infection in women affecting approximately 75% of women worldwide during their pregnancy, and in pre and postmenopausal women. Typical symptoms include urinary frequency, urgency, suprapubic discomfort, and dysuria.

An introduction to the epidemiology of UTIs and detailed herbal nanoformulation treatment approach through novel intravaginal route is intended through this narrative review. UTIs are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, and they affect the quality of life of the affected patients. Multidrug-resistant bacteria and recurrent UTIs are becoming more common. Development of resistance, adverse effects of antibiotics, and other associated problems lead to establishing the research framework to find out the alternative approaches in controlling UTIs. Antibiotic-free treatments for uncomplicated urinary tract infections UTIs should be used, saving drugs for severe infections. Herbal medication might be used instead of antibiotics for uncomplicated UTIs, in addition to analgesics for purely symptomatic treatment.

This review identifies the pathophysiology of UTI, distinguish the intravaginal route as an alternative to oral delivery route, summarizes the management of urinary tract infections and highlights the anti-uropathogenic and anti-bactericidal effects of herbal approaches to prevent or treat urinary tract infections.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) has emerged as one of the most common endocrine and metabolic disorders seen in women of childbearing age throughout the whole world. The complex pathophysiology, different diagnostic criteria, and various manifestations attached to several environmental factors, including lifestyle influences, have made it one of the most difficult disorders to treat in recent times. In addition, inadequate knowledge among patients and a lack of dedicated approved medications have only enhanced the difficulties in treating such a heterogeneous disorder.

The main objective of this review-type paper is to provide a detailed overview of PCOS along with the current concept of a clinical stance in this complex multigenic disorder.

The following databases were used for literature searches: PubMed, Frontiers, Science Direct, Springer, Wiley, and MDPI. For the purpose of finding pertinent articles and contents, the keywords “PCOS; hirsutism; psychological burden; obesity” and others of a similar nature were utilized.

PCOS is a complicated hormonal, metabolic, and psychological condition with many different clinical manifestations. It is among the most prevalent causes of infertility. Before considering any medication choices, lifestyle modifications should be considered the primary therapeutic prescription for PCOS-related infertility. According to recent studies, PCOS does not affect the risk of ovarian or breast cancer, but it does raise the risk of endometrial cancer in women of all ages. These results suggest that PCOS may increase the risk of gynaecological cancer morbidity. The following stage is ovulation stimulation, which is best accomplished with letrozole and is followed by clomiphene citrate. Women who had not responded to the first-line oral ovulatory medicine were given gonadotropins as a backup. Early detection of girls with a high propensity to develop PCOS will be made possible by a comprehensive knowledge of the condition's etiology. Adolescent PCOS will be better managed overall, related comorbidities will be prevented, and quality of life will increase with customized therapeutic approaches.

Numerous studies have investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation education on the improvement of physical and mental conditions in women. However, there is limited information about the effects of mindfulness counseling on happiness.

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) causes not only physical problems in women but also mental problems, such as reduced levels of happiness.

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the mindfulness meditation approach on the happiness of women with underlying premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

The sample size was estimated by power of 90%, confidence interval of 95%, δ1= 6.07and δ2 = 5.11, μ1= 23.05, μ2=19.01, Z1- β= 1.28, Z1- α/2 =1.96 and α = 0.05, the total number of the subjects was 112 respondents (56 in intervention and 56 in the control groups). One hundred twelve participants who had PMS in one interventional-educational study were randomly selected from the health centers in Isfahan. The samples were divided into two groups: intervention and control groups. The intervention group received eight 60-minute sessions of mindfulness education using Google Meet. They taught meditation in a sitting position for 1-10 minutes by using sounds and thoughts as the center of attention, applying the attention technique with a focus on body movements while breathing, and doing yoga and relaxing the muscles to relieve stress. The control group received no intervention. The data were collected using the demographic characteristics questionnaire and the Oxford Happiness questionnaire three times (before, immediately, and one month after the intervention). SPSS 23, chi-square, independent t-test, and repeated measure ANOVA were used to analyze the data.

There was a significant increase in the mean score of happiness in the intervention group immediately and one month after the intervention (P=0.0001).

It was found that mindfulness education was effective on the level of happiness in women with PMS; therefore, this intervention can be used to improve the level of happiness in women with PMS.

The quality of life of infertile women is distinguished from that of men as these women face different problems at individual, social, psychological, and family levels. However, there is no tool for evaluating infertile women's quality of life.

This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate infertile women's quality of life.

This was exploratory sequential research. It was performed in two phases (qualitative-quantitative) on 320 infertile women who lived in Northern Iran. To confirm the validity of the questionnaire, content, face, structural, and concurrent validities were used. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by assessing internal consistency and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient, as well as using stability assessment by test-retest and Intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) calculation.

Following psychometric assessment, a questionnaire was developed with 25 items in seven factors, including psychological effects, sexual life with infertility, family and social effects, infertility-related concerns, physical effects, adaptive approaches, and inhibitory factors/factors preventing adaptation), which explained 51.86% of the variance. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and ICC of the questionnaire were 0.87 and 0.97, respectively.

This questionnaire with 25 items is a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess the quality of life of infertile women with the female factor that can be used to find needs for improving the client's quality of life.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people's lives worldwide have undergone extensive changes. The pandemic has worsened the condition of patients with chronic diseases like women with endometriosis.

This study aims to summarize available evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical symptoms, mental health, and medical care of patients with endometriosis.

In the present integrative review using PRISMA guidelines, related articles published from December 2019 to July 2023 in databases including MEDLINE, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar in the English language were extracted.

After evaluating the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, a total of 23 articles were chosen and examined. This study represents an open window to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on women with endometriosis. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the symptoms, mental well-being, and medical care of women with endometriosis.

There is a perceived necessity to provide supportive care for patients during pandemic restrictions. Remote work has had an unanticipated advantage, and it is recommended that women with endometriosis continue to work from home after COVID-19 to maintain their workplace effectiveness.

Pregnancy with high-risk factors can lead to adverse emotional experiences for the expectant mother.

This study aimed to explore perceived stress and contributing factors among expectant mothers with high-risk pregnancies.

In 2022, a descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 150 high-risk pregnant mothers in comprehensive health centers in Hamadan, Iran. Convenience sampling was used to select participants. The study involved pregnant women between 24-36 weeks of gestation. The participants completed the demographic questionnaire and Cohen's perceived stress scale in a self-reported and written form. The cut point of 21.8 indicated a high stress level. Univariate and multivariate regression were used to determine the relationship between demographic-obstetric variables and perceived stress levels. Statistical analysis was carried out using Stata-13 software. A significance level of 0.05 was utilized in the analysis.

The mean stress score was 33.32 (9.51). Maternal perceived stress was higher with longer gestational age, history of COVID-19 infection, or renting a house, increasing the stress score by 0.85, 7.68, and 6.54, respectively.

The study findings indicated that mothers with high-risk pregnancies experience high levels of perceived stress, which intensifies as their gestational age progresses or if they contract COVID-19 or have unstable housing. The results of this study can help policymakers, planners, and healthcare providers, such as midwives and nurses, in creating and implementing programs to decrease stress and its adverse effects in women with high-risk pregnancies.