The Female Atlas: how we check facts

The Female Atlas: how we check facts on each page

It's normal to wonder where a health figure came from, and you shouldn't have to take anyone's word for it, ours included. Each page is built so that you can check it yourself. The Female Atlas team writes every page and checks each figure against the source it names. Each health claim rests on at least one named guideline or study in that page's sources list, and a claim with no source behind it stays off the page.

Each entry in a sources list gives the name of the guideline or study, its publisher, its year and a link, so you can open the original and read it in its own words. The year matters as much as the name. Guidance changes, and the date tells you how recent the statement behind a figure is. If you come across a newer statement from the same body than the one a page cites, it's worth going by the newer one.

A few house standards sit alongside the sourcing, and you can see them on any page. Pages from the team carry the byline The Female Atlas team, which is who wrote them. Nothing on the site is for sale, so no figure is there to support a product. Ages are given as ranges unless a guideline itself sets the age. Spelling and units are US-first, with metric alongside.

When you're reading any health page, here or elsewhere, two details are worth a gentle second look: a figure with no named source, and a source with no year. Neither means the figure is off, only that it is harder to check for yourself. A good place to start is to ask where the number came from and when.

How we report evidence grades

Some guideline bodies grade their own recommendations, and a grade tells you how sure the body is, which a bare recommendation doesn't. When a source carries a grade, the grade and its meaning sit in the same sentence as the recommendation. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is the clearest example. Its grade definitions, marked current as of June 2018, set out five categories: the letters A to D, plus a separate statement for insufficient evidence.

Grade A means the Task Force has high certainty that the net benefit of a service is substantial. Grade B means high certainty of a moderate net benefit, or moderate certainty of a moderate-to-substantial one. Grade C means the service is offered selectively, based on professional judgment and patient preference, so it's the grade where a conversation with your own doctor shapes the answer most. Grade D means the Task Force recommends against the service.

The fifth category means the evidence is insufficient to judge the benefits and harms of a service. That is a different thing from a D: it says the question is still open, not that the Task Force advises against the service. When a page reports it, we say so in those words, so that "not enough evidence yet" isn't read as "doesn't work".

These letters belong to the USPSTF, so they appear only beside its recommendations. Guidance from a UK body such as NICE or the NHS is reported in that body's own wording, named as its own source with its year, and is not converted into a US letter. Where US and UK guidance differ, both sit in the same sentence, so you can see which applies where you live.

Is this site medical advice, and which US and UK terms does it use?

No. Our pages explain what current guidelines and research say, in plain language, so you can have a more informed conversation with your own doctor or nurse. Our information disclaimer sets out what the site is and is not for, and it's worth a read alongside this page.

The site is written in US terms first, with the UK term in the same sentence wherever the language differs. So you will see primary care provider (GP in the UK), OB-GYN (obstetrician and gynaecologist), pap test (smear test, or cervical screening) and menopause hormone therapy (HRT).

The way we write follows the same care. Health here means strength, function and how you feel, never a number on the scale. Advice is offered as an invitation, in phrases like "many women find" or "the evidence supports", because you know your own life better than any page does.

If a page leaves you unsure, the question to carry to your appointment can be as simple as the name and year of the guideline it cites. And if something on a page worries you about your own health, that's worth a doctor's visit in its own right; a page can explain the evidence, but it can't examine you.

Next steps

A good place to start is the sources list on the next page you read: open one named guideline or study and see whether it matches what we describe. If a page raises a question about your own health, many women find it helpful to bring that source along to their next appointment. You can also read more about the site and the team behind it. Evidence is a starting point, and it is not one size fits all: what fits your body, your history and your priorities is for you to decide.