Protocol - Menstrual History

Description

Females answer questions about the frequency and regularity of her menstrual cycle and whether any irregularities were due to breastfeeding. Females also answer questions about whether their periods have stopped.

Specific Instructions

The Expert Review Panel recommends that question 4 be framed in the context of when the subject was not taking contraceptives.

Availability

Available

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Protocol

1. Since the age of 18, have you ever experienced a time interval of 3 or more months when you did not have a menstrual period? [PROBE: IF "YES": Was this one time only or more than once?]

1[ ]No (Skip to question 4)

2[ ]Yes One time only

3[ ]Yes More than once

-8[ ]Don’t know (Skip to question 4)

2. Were you breastfeeding at the time?

1[ ]No (Skip to question 4)

2[ ]Yes

-8[ ]Don’t know (Skip to question 4)

3. Were you breastfeeding or pregnant every time this happened?

1[ ]No

2[ ]Yes

-8[ ]Don’t know

4. During ages 18-22 what was the pattern of your menstrual cycles? (excluding time around pregnancies)

[ ] Regular (within 8 days)

[ ] Usually irregular

[ ] Always irregular

[ ] No periods

5. On average, during the last year, how many days were there in a typical menstrual cycle, that is, from the beginning of bleeding of one menstrual period to the beginning of bleeding of the next period?

1[ ]Less than 21 days

2[ ]21-25 days

3[ ]26-32 days

4[ ]33-35 days

5[ ]36-90 days

6[ ]More than 90 days

7[ ]Too variable to say

-8[ ]Don’t know

6. Have your menstrual periods stopped permanently?

[ ] Yes, no menstrual periods

[ ] Yes, but have periods now due to female hormones (end)

[ ] No (end)

[ ] Not sure (end)

7. How old were you when your periods stopped?

[ ] Less than 35

[ ] 35-39

[ ] 40-44

[ ] 45-49

[ ] 50-54

[ ] 55 or more

Personnel and Training Required

None

Equipment Needs

Pencil and paper

Requirements

Requirement Category	Required
Major equipment	No
Specialized training	No
Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection	No
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual	No

Mode of Administration

Self-administered questionnaire

Lifestage

Adult

Participants

Adult females, ages 18+

Selection Rationale

No single protocol was found to cover menstrual history through the life cycle. Therefore the PhenX Reproductive Health Working Group used protocols from three well established sources, the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), and the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS) to address disruptions and the end to menstrual cycles.

Language

Chinese, English

Standards

Standard	Name	ID	Source
Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC)	Menstrual hx proto	62668-9	LOINC
Human Phenotype Ontology	Menstrual irregularities	HP:0000858	HPO
caDSR Form	PhenX PX101101 - Menstrual History	5970987	caDSR Form

Derived Variables

None

Process and Review

The Expert Review Panel #5 (ERP 5) reviewed the measures in the Reproductive Health domain.

Guidance from ERP 5 includes:

Revised descriptions of the measure

Back-compatible; no changes to Data Dictionary.

Previous version in Toolkit archive (link).

Protocol Name from Source

Nurses Health Study (NHS), Black Womens Health Study (BWHS), Study of Women Across the Nation (SWAN)

Source

Harvard Medical School. (n.d.). Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), Long Form 1988. Boston, MA: Author. Question number 20 (question 4). National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), et al. (n.d.). Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) Baseline 08-19-04. Question numbers C20 (question 1), C20.1 (question 2), C20.2 (question 3), Question number C11 (question 5).

Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University (n.d.). Black Women’s Health Study 1995. Boston, MA: Author. Question 21 (questions 6 and 7).

General References

Carroll, J., Saxena, R., & Welt, C. K. (2012). Environmental and genetic factors influence age at menarche in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, 25(5-6), 459-66.

Solomon, C. G., Hu, F. B., Dunaif, A., Rich-Edwards, J., Willett, W. C., Hunter, D. J., . . . Manson, J. E. (2001). Long or highly irregular menstrual cycles as a marker for risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. JAMA, 286, 2421-2426.

Solomon, C. G., Hu, F. B., Dunaif, A., Rich-Edwards, J. E., Stampfer, M. J., Willett. W. C., . . . Manson, J. E. (2002). Menstrual cycle irregularity and risk for future cardiovascular disease. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 87, 2013-2017.

Carroll, J., Saxena, R., & Welt, C. K. (2012). Environmental and genetic factors influence age at menarche in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, 25(5-6), 459-66.

Protocol ID

101101

Variables

Export Variables

Variable Name	Variable ID	Variable Description	dbGaP Mapping
PX101101_Menstrual_Cycle_Pattern_Age_18_22
	PX101101040000	During ages 18-22 what was the pattern of more your menstrual cycles? (excluding time around pregnancies) show less	N/A
PX101101_Menstrual_Cycle_Typical_Days_Average
	PX101101050000	On average, during the last year, how many more days were there in a typical menstrual cycle, that is, from the beginning of bleeding of one menstrual period to the beginning of bleeding of the next period? show less	Variable Mapping
PX101101_Menstrual_Period_Stop_Age
	PX101101070000	How old were you when your periods stopped?	Variable Mapping
PX101101_Menstrual_Period_Stop_Permanently
	PX101101060000	Have your menstrual periods stopped permanently?	N/A
PX101101_No_Menstrual_Period_3_More_Months
	PX101101010000	Since the age of 18, have you ever more experienced a time interval of 3 or more months when you did not have a menstrual period? show less	Variable Mapping
PX101101_No_Menstrual_Period_Breastfeeding
	PX101101020000	Were you breastfeeding at the time?	N/A
PX101101_No_Menstrual_Period_Breastfeeding_Pregnant_Always
	PX101101030000	Were you breastfeeding or pregnant every more time this happened? show less	N/A

Reproductive Health

Measure Name

Menstrual History

Release Date

February 26, 2010

Definition

Questions to determine a female’s menstrual history including disruptions to her menstrual cycle.

Purpose

These questions assess females’ menstrual history.

Keywords

Reproductive health, menstrual periods, Study of Women Across the Nation, SWAN, Black Women’s Health Study, BWHS, Nurses’ Health Study, NHS

Measure Protocols

Protocol ID	Protocol Name
101101	Menstrual History

Publications

Pomeroy, A., et al. (2022) Protocol for a Longitudinal Study of the Determinants of Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Young Adults. Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 2022 April; 7(2): 8. doi: 10.1249/tjx.0000000000000197

Forray, A., et al. (2017) Progesterone for smoking relapse prevention following delivery: A pilot, randomized, double-blind study. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 December; 86: 96-103. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.012

Mapping for PX101101_Menstrual_Cycle_Typical_Days_Average

dbGAP Study	dbGAP Variable	dbGAP Variable Description
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120566	AVG

Mapping for PX101101_Menstrual_Period_Stop_Age

dbGAP Study	dbGAP Variable	dbGAP Variable Description
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort	phv00096170	AGE WHEN MENOPAUSE BEGAN Q7
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort	phv00096015	AGE WHEN MENOPAUSE BEGAN Q8
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort	phv00094332	AGE MENOPAUSE BEGAN Q19
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort	phv00094046	AGE WHEN MENOPAUSE BEGAN Q8
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort	phv00094007	Age at natural menopause
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120559	AGE PERIODS STOPPED, PAST 12 MONTHS. Q 10
Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) Cohort	phv00100351	AGE AT MENOPAUSE
Framingham Cohort	phv00008423	MENOPAUSE: AGE PERIOD STOPPED
Framingham Cohort	phv00036428	STOP_AGE approximated
Framingham Cohort	phv00036419	Age periods stopped
Framingham Cohort	phv00007721	MENOPAUSE: AGE PERIOD STOPPED
GENEVA: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study	phv00080512	Age when menopause began (visit 1)
GENEVA: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study	phv00080474	Age at natural menopause
GWAS of Breast Cancer in the African Diaspora	phv00172024	Age at menopause
Jackson Heart Study (JHS) Cohort	phv00128267	9: Age when you stopped menstrual?
Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Cohort	phv00087184	AGE OF MENOPAUSE
Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Cohort	phv00085267	AGE WENT THROUGH MENOPAUSE
Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Cohort	phv00083034	AGE WENT THROUGH MENOPAUSE
NHLBI Cleveland Family Study (CFS) Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe)	phv00122154	Age at menopause (A)
NHLBI GO-ESP: Heart Cohorts Exome Sequencing Project (ARIC)	phv00190422	Age in years at menopause
NHLBI GO-ESP: Heart Cohorts Exome Sequencing Project (CHS)	phv00165190	AGE IN YEARS AT MENOPAUSE
NHLBI GO-ESP: Heart Cohorts Exome Sequencing Project (MESA)	phv00178057	AGE IN YEARS AT MENOPAUSE
NHLBI GO-ESP: Women's Health Initiative Exome Sequencing Project (WHI) - WHISP	phv00165280	AGE IN YEARS AT MENOPAUSE
NIA Long Life Family Study (LLFS)	phv00163297	Age of menopause was reached
PAGE: Multiethnic Cohort (MEC)	phv00163132	Age stopped menstruating: reported at baseline
The Vaginal Microbiome: Disease, Genetics and the Environment	phv00090436	How old were you when your periods stopped?
Women's Health Initiative	phv00110722	Age at menopause

Mapping for PX101101_No_Menstrual_Period_3_More_Months

dbGAP Study	dbGAP Variable	dbGAP Variable Description
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120582	SINCE 18 > 3 MOS TIME WITHOUT PERIOD? Q 19