Unlike most previous studies in field settings, the women in SWAN are being observed as their cycles become irregular and eventually cease. A research team composed of members from across the country noted that cycle patterns of women as they traverse the menopause are relatively unexplored. The application of algorithms designed to identify cycles with evidence of estrogen and progesterone activity among younger, regularly cycling women may be less reliable as reproductive aging occurs.

A New Study

A team of physiologists sought to identify in a prospective fashion the characteristics of a presumably ovulatory menstrual cycle that would appear to be most robust, and to incorporate them into a step-by-step process to assess ovarian function in SWAN's sample of women. They examined previously tested algorithms and assessed their ability to provide a standardized, objective assessment of presumed ovulatory status that would maintain predictive capability of hormonal function as study participants preceded toward menopause.

The authors of "Assessing Menstrual Cycles with Urinary Hormone Assays" are N. Santoro from The Division Of Reproductive Endocrinology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY; S. L. Crawford, J. E. Allsworth, and P. McGaffigan at the New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA; E. B. Gold and B. L. Lasley, from the Departments Of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and Population Health and Reproduction, University Of California at Davis, Davis, CA; G. A. Greendale, S. Korenman, and M. Schocken at The Division Of Geriatrics and Center for Health Sciences, University Of California At Los Angel
'"/>

Contact: Donna Krupa
djkrupa1@aol.com
703-527-7357
American Physiological Society
2-Apr-2003