A UK study will build a menstrual fluid biobank to help women get faster, better treatment for heavy periods.

Thousands of participants will provide menstrual fluid samples over three cycles using specially designed period pads. They will also use a daily tracking app and complete detailed questionnaires.

Researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol will work with participants from two UK birth cohort studies, Children of the 90s and Born in Bradford.

Professor Gemma Sharp, of the University of Exeter, said that the study is set to be a ‘real game-changer’ for menstrual health research.

Sharp said: “We know that menstrual health is a key indicator of overall health, but a lack of high-quality data means it remains poorly understood and under-supported in healthcare.

“We also know that heavy periods can affect many aspects of daily life – for example, our recent research revealed an association between heavy periods, school attendance and lower GCSE attainment – so we urgently need new ways to support the millions of women affected by heavy periods more promptly and effectively.”

The CycleTrack study aims to create the world’s largest menstrual fluid biobank for people in their mid-30s.

By combining these samples with long-term health and genetic data, researchers hope to identify biological signals linked to differences in periods and related conditions.

Researchers hope the findings could support earlier diagnosis, better care plans and tools to identify risks including iron deficiency.

The study is part of The Missed Vital Sign, a programme led by Wellcome Leap that contributes to a broader global effort to reduce the time it takes a woman to receive effective treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding from five years to five months.

Up to 50 per cent of women worldwide experience heavy periods, which can significantly affect physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

Researchers say the work could also improve understanding of menstrual health more broadly and help inform future school and workplace guidance.

A study is examining where delays occur in diagnosing endometriosis  – a condition that can take seven to twelve years to diagnose.

Endometriosis affects an estimated 1.5 million women and people in the UK, but there is currently no consistent way of measuring where and why diagnostic delays happen.

The research aims to develop the first standardised framework for understanding the diagnostic journey and identifying points where interventions could improve care.

The international project involves researchers from the University of Sheffield, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford, Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Edinburgh, alongside Endometriosis UK.

Dr Rebecca Mawson, NIHR clinical lecturer in primary care at the University of Sheffield, is part of the research team.

She said: “Our project asks: where exactly are people getting lost or let down on their journey to diagnosis, and how can we map those points in a systematic way to identify where interventions could make a real difference.”

The project is led by Dr Babu Karavadra, NIHR academic clinical fellow in general practice at the University of Liverpool, who has been awarded a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Investigator Award as lead principal investigator at the University of Liverpool.

Researchers will review existing evidence, gather experiences from people living with endometriosis and bring together an international panel to map the diagnostic pathway and agree common definitions for key points along the journey.

The work will focus particularly on people whose experiences are often missing from research, including Black women, people living in rural or deprived areas, LGBTQ+ communities and disabled people.

Primary care will also be central to the research because it is often where people first seek help with symptoms.

Mawson said: “Primary care needs to be at the heart of this work. Primary care is often where people first seek help with their symptoms, so it has a crucial role in understanding diagnostic delay.

“If we only look at what happens once someone reaches specialist gynaecology, we risk missing some of the barriers that shape the journey long before that point.”

Unlike cancer research, where internationally recognised standards exist for studying diagnostic delays, endometriosis research has been more fragmented, with studies measuring different parts of the diagnostic journey in different ways.

The researchers hope to create an ‘Endometriosis Diagnostic Pathway Framework’ to help identify where people are falling through the gaps and where healthcare could be improved.

They will also develop a ‘Snakes and Ladders’ style visual representation showing how systemic barriers, chance and individual experiences can influence whether someone reaches a diagnosis.

The project forms part of the PEARL network, Primary care Endometriosis and Adenomyosis Research and Learning, an international collaboration of primary care and community researchers and clinicians.

Mawson said: “Endometriosis diagnostic delay isn’t inevitable. If we can understand where and why people are experiencing barriers, we have a much better chance of designing interventions that actually make a difference.

“The scale of the problem demands that we look at the whole journey, listen to the people experiencing it and build an evidence base that can lead to real change.”

The framework could provide the foundations for future research, clinical guideline development, healthcare professional training and NHS service improvements, with potential applications to related conditions such as adenomyosis and chronic pelvic pain.