The Longitudinal Study
The current study consists of longitudinal, transmenopausal observation on a cohort of women originally randomly sampled from the Melbourne urban general population of midaged Australian born women. All women were still menstruating at baseline, with intact uteri, and were not using hormone therapy. An additional sample of 54 hormone users were included to provide knowledge about patterns of hormone use in the community. During the initial cross-sectional telephone survey, the longitudinal study was explained to those women who met eligibility requirements. Of the original 2001 women, 779 were invited to take part in the longitudinal study. When contacted again at the time of the longitudinal phase, 492 women consented to continue in the study. The Project is currently in it's 9th year. There are currently 433 women (88% of the original 492 longitudinal participants).
Women are interviewed annually face-to face in their own homes unless they have undergone an induced menopause (removal of uterus and/or both ovaries; chemotherapy or other treatment that significantly affects ovarian function; endometrial ablation). This group of women are interviewed via the telephone each year. Whilst women who use hormone therapy are of unknown menopausal status, they form a major sub-group for the investigation of a number of specific project objectives, and are thus interviewed face-to-face.
Core questionnaire
A 'core' questionnaire for the longitudinal phase of the study was finalised after extensive consultation and piloting. Standard interview schedules and procedures using interviewer-administered questionnaires have been in use throughout the longitudinal study. Data has been collected on:
- menstrual/menopausal status
- health status
- well-being; common symptoms
- diagnosed chronic illnesses (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis)
- other illness
- premenstrual symptoms
- health service use
- hormone therapy use; contraception
- family history
- stress
- health-related behaviours - smoking status, alcohol consumption, exercise, screening
- sociodemographic characteristics
- qualitative data of the constructs of health and the menopause
Self-administered Questionnaires
Self-administered questionnaires are also given to the women. These include: the 'Hassles Scale' (Kanner, Coyne and Schaefer, 1981); the Personal Experience Questionnaire - a personal inventory of sexual functioning based on the McCoy Sexual Adjustment scale (1996), which measures sexual functioning and libido (Dennerstein et al.1997); and exercise and dietary questionnaires. Menstrual Diaries are also collected from the women each year.
Physical Measures
Physical measures include a blood sample (which is tested for hormone levels FSH, estradiol, testosterone, SHBG, inhibin as well as fasting cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL) and fasting glucose), and body composition measures - body mass index, height and weight, skinfold thickness, hip:waist ratio, blood pressure, and bone mineral densities of spine and hip using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry scanning.
The following areas of data have been analysed:
- bone density
- weight
- hormone therapy use
- mood
- sexual functioning
- fasting glucoses (in press)
- hormone changes (in press)
- androgens (in press)
- cardiovascular risk factors (in press)