Endocrine Features of Menstrual Cycles in Middle and Late Reproductive Age and the Menopausal Transition Classified According to the Staging of Reproductive Aging Workshop (STRAW) Staging System

Abstract

Progression through the STRAW stages is associated with elevations in serum FSH, LH, and estradiol and decreases in luteal phase progesterone. The marked fall in inhibin B and particularly anti-Mullerian hormone indicate that they may be useful in predicting STRAW stage but future analyses of early cycle measurements on larger cohorts are needed to draw predictive conclusions.

The Role of Facial and Body Hair Distribution in Women’s Judgments of Men’s Sexual Attractiveness

“…Even in women with regular 28-day menstrual cycles, only 10 %ovulated 14 days prior to next their menses following ovulation, so that the window of maximum fertility likely spans days 8-15 (Wilcox et al, 2000). This window of fertility is less predictable among women with irregular menstrual cycles, including adolescent and peri-menopausal women (Hale et al, 2007;Wilcox et al, 2000). While the likelihood of pregnancy from a single act of sexual intercourse is also higher on these days, particularly among women with regular menstrual cycles (Wilcox, Dunson, Weinberg, Trussel, & Baird, 2001), categorizing participants into higher or lower fertility on the basis of recollecting the last day of menstrual bleeding is imperfect as women may inaccurately recall the duration of their menstrual cycles (Jukic et al, 2008;Small, Manatunga, & Marcus, 2007).…”

“…This left a final sample of 704 women (M age 28.70 years ± 7.25) not using hormonal contraceptives and 997 (M age 25.83 years ± 5.74) using contraceptives. However, Gildersleeve et al (2013) and DeBruine et al (2010) have also recommended restricting the sample to participants 30 years or younger to control for age-related changes in fecundability and the likelihood of anovulatory cycles (Hale et al, 2007), which in our sample left a sub-sample of 462 women (M age, 24.41 years ± 3.57) not using hormonal contraceptives and 811 (M age 23.69 years ± 3.44) using contraceptives. We ran two analyses, one using the full sample and a second that was restricted to women 30 years or younger.…”

The menopausal transition

“…Circulating concentrations remain relatively stable across the menstrual cycle and correlate with the number of early antral follicles. Levels of AMH decrease markedly and progressively across the MT (17).…”

Early menopause in mothers of children with Down syndrome?

“…Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in past and current menstrual characteristics in the nonmenopausal group. Based on the Staging of Reproductive Aging Workshop (STRAW) system for determining menopausal status, no statistically significant difference was found between the mothers in menopausal transition in the Down syndrome and the control groups (19).…”