For this week’s blog, I will be analyzing an article by the Cape Times titled “Women’s reproductive health disrupted by Covid-19 pandemic”. The article argues that the psychological burden caused by the pandemic has resulted in a disruption in female reproductive health, citing research presented at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Edinburgh.

“Stress is a known factor that can disturb women’s menstrual cycles by affecting hormone levels, as well as causing sleep and body weight disturbances,” says the article. The premise of the article’s argument is based on the correlation between the psychological and reproductive health of women, as identified by the research.

As part of the research, Dr. Lisa Owens and Dr. Michelle Mahir surveyed 1300 women in April 2021 to investigate changes in depression, anxiety, sleep quality, and menstrual cycles. The survey results are as follows: 56% reported an overall change in their menstrual cycles since the beginning of the pandemic; 64% reported a worsening in pre-menstrual symptoms; 54% reported reduced sex drive. Additionally, compared to pre-pandemic times, the rates of depression, anxiety, and poor sleep had more than doubled.

While the article correctly cites statistics discovered during the survey making them valid, it is the validity of the survey method itself which would make the results dubious in the eyes of statisticians. Firstly, the sample size of 1300 is simply not large enough to make a general hypothesis for the larger population of women. Secondly, neither the article nor the actual research itself mentions if other factors such as age and chronic diseases were taken into account. Moreover, even social factors such as ethnicity, race, and economic background could arguably have affected stress levels among women especially since the pandemic affected certain social groups disproportionately. Thirdly, when speaking about pre-pandemic times, the research does not mention if the data regarding depression, anxiety, and poor sleep was collected from the same sample of women.

However, regardless of the flaws within the data collection method, the survey’s results and the article’s main argument that the pandemic adversely affected female reproductive health make sense. The article also mentions that the research team is planning to conduct these surveys every 6 months to “determine progress and identify any longer-term effects on female reproductive and mental health”. New variables in the form of “more objective measurements of blood pressure, weight, sex hormone levels, and ovulation” will also be added to the survey. This will increase the validity of the resulting statistics.

As for the article, overall, the main argument makes sense, but some of the information is redundant and repetitive. Perhaps, changing the structure and organization of the article would improve this. In certain places, I also noticed the article was quoting directly from the research but without the use of quotation marks which could lead to plagiarism charges. Regardless, the article does convince the readers that further studies to investigate the long-term impact of the pandemic on female reproductive health are necessary.