Project Details
Description
The menopausal transition is a period of gynecologic instability for most
women and potential morbidity for some. Disturbances of menstrual pattern,
ovulation, reproductive hormonal status and associated psychological and
adaptational disruptions have been reported commonly. Surgical approaches
to these poorly defined symptoms are equally common. Thirty per cent of
American women undergo hysterectomy. Most of these procedures are
performed during the postreproductive, premenopausal years, chiefly for
benign disease. The present proposal seeks to define the hormonal,
gynecologic and psychosocial/sexual milieu of the postreproductive,
premenopausal woman to understand more fully the factors leading to this
high utilization of hysterectomy and to define symptomatology which places
a woman at risk for functional or surgical morbidity in the perimenopause.
We plan to prospectively follow a cohort of 1000 women enriched in African
American and Hispanic populations and determine annual measures of
menstrual bleeding, reproductive hormonal status, endometrial and ovarian
morphology, uterine blood flow and a battery of psychosocial and sexual
behavioral measures to determine the normative patterns of function in the
perimenopause and to define dysfunction and determine its correlates. A
subgroup of 150 women will be followed annually throughout an intensively
monitored menstrual cycle with repeated measures to determine across-cycle
hormonal and functional dynamics. Specific hypotheses regarding the
linkage of reproductive hormonal abnormalities to gynecologic and
psychosocial adaptational morbidities will be tested. These data are
expected to lead to a firm determination of normative standards for
reproductive hormonal milieu uterine bleeding, ovarian morphology uterine
blood flow and adaptational status, as significant pathophysiology may
well require redefinition for the woman in menopausal transition.
Minority women will be assessed both separately and with the longer group.
Women experiencing true distress and impairment may be identified
prospectively and proactive medical measures to prevent morbidity and
avoid hysterectomy and other surgical interventions well be a desirable
result of these efforts.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 9/30/94 → 6/30/20 |
ASJC
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Research and Theory
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
- Medicine(all)
- Social Psychology
- History and Philosophy of Science
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
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