{"id":465294,"date":"2026-03-09T04:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/465294\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T04:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:07:13","slug":"why-women-turn-to-ai-on-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/465294\/","title":{"rendered":"why women turn to AI on health"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Katie finally sat down in her GP\u2019s surgery in November she had been in pain for years. Since the birth of her daughter in July 2023, sex had been agony. Yet the mother of three, a teacher, had delayed booking an appointment \u2014 she simply didn\u2019t have the time.<\/p>\n

\u201dI had to work myself up to it,\u201d said Katie \u2014 not her real name. \u201cI didn\u2019t have childcare, so I had to use code words during the appointment so my kids didn\u2019t come away saying anything they shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

After explaining her pain to a stranger, she was met with a shrug. \u201cI was told that this is just what happens after kids. I felt so ignored and so awful. I cried; I felt invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling failed by a human doctor, she turned to ChatGPT. \u201cI know that AI is programmed to acknowledge me; it said something like, \u2018that must be really stressful and tough to deal with right now,\u2019 and then gave me a list of things my pain could be attributed to. It instantly put me at ease,\u201d Katie, 28, said.<\/p>\n

She is now in the majority. A study of 1,000 UK women aged 20 to 50 found that 53 per cent would use a free AI tool for medical advice, even while acknowledging the 20 per cent error rate. <\/p>\n

The report by Intimina, a Swedish company that makes women\u2019s health products, Sixty-six per cent of women admitted they had avoided booking a GP appointment or collecting a prescription to avoid associated costs and 47 per cent said the cost of living had led them to delay buying treatments until symptoms felt \u201csevere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some women struggle to find time for appointments with a doctors, or feel their concerns are dismissed when they do go<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

A London School of Economics study last year found that AI models systematically downplayed women\u2019s symptoms compared to men\u2019s. <\/p>\n

Katie discovered the chatbot\u2019s limits. Asking for help for intense burning and itching, the AI suggested she had thrush so she bought over-the-counter medication. \u201cThe cream stung immediately,\u201d she said. \u201cI was in so much pain that I had to get it off my body instantly. I was uncomfortable for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not have thrush but bacterial vaginosis and the incorrect treatment led to further infections. For her persistent pain, the bot suggested generic pelvic floor exercises but a private osteopath later diagnosed pelvic floor tension. <\/p>\n

Dr Susanna Unsworth, a women\u2019s health expert with Intimina, said: \u201cAI lacks the clinical nuance essential in intimate health. Self-treating based on a chatbot\u2019s guess can lead to inappropriate treatment and prolonged suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Despite the errors, Katie still uses chatbot. \u201cAI helps me collect my thoughts as to what my symptoms are,\u201d she said. \u201cIt provides all the information in one neat list that I take to my GP so I can confidently speak about what is wrong and what I need.\u201d She said she would still use it as a \u201csurvival tool\u201d given her busy schedule and limited childcare. <\/p>\n

Growing numbers of women are also using AI for therapy as a substitute for overstretched mental health professionals.<\/p>\n

Unsworth said the healthcare system had to adapt. \u201cThere is an opportunity for the NHS to ensure trusted, evidence-based information is available in the digital spaces where people are already looking for answers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How to use AI for health safely \u2014 Dr Susanna Unsworth\u2019s Dos and Don\u2019ts<\/p>\n

\u2022 Do use AI to organise your thoughts and draft questions so you make the most of limited consultation time.
\u2022 Do use AI to track and understand patterns, like logging menstrual cycles or triggers.
\u2022 Don\u2019t share identifiable details, medical records, or photos of symptoms to unregulated platforms.
\u2022 Don\u2019t rely on AI as a substitute for professional care. If symptoms persist, worsen, or recur, a physical assessment is essential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Katie finally sat down in her GP\u2019s surgery in November she had been in pain for years.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-465294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}