Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Development and Validation: A Primer for Clinicians.

A comprehensive definition of health includes the assessment of patient experiences of a disease and its treatment. These patient experiences are best captured by standardized patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments. A PRO is reported directly by the patient (or caregiver) and provides the patient's perspective into how a disease and its treatment impact their lives.

Maternal active asthma in pregnancy influences associations between polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and child asthma.

Background: Studies evaluating effects of prenatal polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake on childhood asthma reveal mixed results. Inconsistencies may result from not accounting for important modifying factors such as maternal asthma or child sex.

Objective: To evaluate whether associations between prenatal PUFA intake and childhood asthma are modified by prenatal active maternal asthma or child sex in 412 mother-child dyads.

Benign breast disease and changes in mammographic breast density.

Background: Mammographic breast density (MBD) and benign breast disease (BBD) are two of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer. Understanding trends in MBD by age and parity in women with BBD is essential to the clinical management and prevention of breast cancer.

Methods: Using data from the Early Determinants of Mammographic Density (EDMD) study, a prospective follow-up study of women born in 1959-1967, we evaluated MBD in 676 women.

Placental morphometry in relation to daughters' percent mammographic breast density at midlife.

Intrauterine and early-life exposures, including intrauterine smoke exposures and infant growth are associated with mammographic breast density (MBD), a strong breast cancer risk factor. We investigated whether placental morphometry, which is affected by intrauterine smoke exposure and also influences infant growth, predicts %MBD at ages 37-47. In 247 daughters in the Child Health and Development Studies, we found that larger placental surface area and placental thickness were associated with lower %MBD (-0.

In utero DDT exposure and breast density before age 50.

Prior studies in the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) found in utero exposure to the pesticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), increased breast cancer risk by age 52. Mammographic density is considered a primary risk factor for breast cancer. We conducted a study of 309 daughters from the CHDS to examine in utero DDT exposure and mammographic density in midlife.

Data-driven discovery of mid-pregnancy immune markers associated with maternal lifetime stress: results from an urban pre-birth cohort.

Changes to the maternal inflammatory milieu may be a mechanism through which maternal psychosocial stress is transmitted to the fetus. Research investigating a limited number of immune markers may miss important signals. We take a proteomics approach to investigate maternal lifetime stress and 92 biomarkers of immune system status.

Early-Life Growth and Benign Breast Disease.

Using prospective data from the Early Determinants of Mammographic Density study (United States, 1959-2008, n = 1121), we examined the associations between maternal body size, birth size, and infant and early childhood growth during 3 time periods (0-4 months, 4-12 months, and 1-4 years) and benign breast disease (BBD) using multivariable logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. A total of 197 women (17.6%) reported receiving a diagnosis of BBD by a physician.

Epidemiology of Cow's Milk Allergy.

Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common food allergies in infants and young children. CMA can result in anaphylactic reactions, and has long term implications on growth and nutrition. There are several studies in diverse populations assessing the epidemiology of CMA.

Do Birth Weight and Weight Gain During Infancy and Early Childhood Explain Variation in Mammographic Density in Women in Midlife? Results From Cohort and Sibling Analyses.

High birth weight is associated with increased breast cancer risk and, less consistently, with higher mammographic density. In contrast, adolescent body size has been consistently, negatively associated with both MD and breast cancer risk. It is unclear when the direction of these associations changes and whether weight gain in infancy is associated with MD.

Maternal Lifetime Trauma and Birthweight: Effect Modification by In Utero Cortisol and Child Sex.

Objectives: To evaluate associations between maternal lifetime traumatic stress and offspring birthweight and examine modifying effects of third trimester cortisol and fetal sex.

Study Design: Analyses included 314 mother-infant dyads from an ethnically mixed pregnancy cohort. Maternal lifetime trauma was reported via the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised.

Subconstructs of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale in a postpartum sample in Mexico City.

Background: Postpartum depression is an important cause of morbidity in mothers and children. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), the most widely used self-reported measure of postpartum depression, was conceived as a one-dimensional measure. However, evidence that depressive symptoms may be experienced differentially across cultural and racial groups highlights the need to examine structural equivalence using factor analysis across populations.

Sex differences in effects of maternal risk and protective factors in childhood and pregnancy on newborn telomere length.

Little research has examined determinants of newborn telomere length, a potential biomarker of lifetime disease risk impacted by prenatal exposures. No study has examined whether maternal exposures in childhood influence newborn telomere length or whether there are sex differences in the maternal factors that influence newborn telomere length. We tested whether a range of maternal risk and protective factors in childhood and pregnancy were associated with newborn telomere length among 151 sociodemographically diverse mother-infant dyads.

Hair product use, age at menarche and mammographic breast density in multiethnic urban women.

Background: Select hair products contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that may affect breast cancer risk. We hypothesize that, if EDCs are related to breast cancer risk, then they may also affect two important breast cancer risk factors: age at menarche and mammographic breast density.

Methods: In two urban female cohorts (N = 248): 1) the New York site of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project and 2) the New York City Multiethnic Breast Cancer Project, we measured childhood and adult use of hair oils, lotions, leave-in conditioners, root stimulators, perms/relaxers, and hair dyes using the same validated questionnaire.

Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation in midlife.

Maternal smoking in pregnancy (MSP) has been associated with DNA methylation in specific CpG sites (CpGs) in infants and children. We investigated whether MSP, independent of own personal active smoking, was associated with midlife DNA methylation in CpGs that were previously identified in studies of MSP-DNA methylation in children. We used data on MSP collected from pregnant mothers of 89 adult women born in 1959-1964 and measured DNA methylation in blood (granulocytes) collected in 2001-2007 (mean age: 43 years).

Earlier age at menarche in girls with rapid early life growth: cohort and within sibling analyses.

Purpose: The purpose of the article was to examine the association of early life growth with age at menarche.

Methods: Using data from a prospective birth cohort (n = 1134 women, 290 sibling sets), we assessed the association between postnatal growth at 4 months, 1 year, and 4 years and age at menarche, using generalized estimating equations and generalized linear random effects models.

Results: Overall, 18% of the cohort experienced early menarche (<12 years).

Early life socioeconomic environment and mammographic breast density.

Background: Early life social environment may influence breast cancer through shaping risk factors operating in early life, adolescence and adulthood, or may be associated with breast cancer risk independent of known risk factors. We investigated the associations between early life socioeconomic status (SES) and mammographic density, a strong risk factor for breast cancer, and the extent to which these associations were independent of risk factors across the lifecourse.

Methods: We used data from an adult follow-up study of two U.

Maternal Anthropometry and Mammographic Density in Adult Daughters.

Objective: We examined the relation between maternal anthropometry and mammographic density in the adult daughter using prospectively collected data.

Methods: Our study included a total of 700 mother-daughter dyads participating in an adult follow-up of women born in 2 US birth cohorts: the Child Health and Development Study and the Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island sites of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project.

Results: We observed an increased percent breast density at a mean age of 43.

Early life growth, socioeconomic status, and mammographic breast density in an urban US birth cohort.

Purpose: Rapid infant and childhood growth has been associated with chronic disease later in life, including breast cancer. Early life socioeconomic status (SES) influences childhood growth, but few studies have prospective measures from birth to consider the effects of early life growth and SES on breast cancer risk.

Methods: We used prospectively measured early life SES and growth (percentile weight change in height and weight between each pair of consecutive time points at birth, 4 months, 1 and 7 years).

Alcohol intake from early adulthood to midlife and mammographic density.

Purpose: Moderate alcohol consumption (15 g/day) has been consistently associated with increased breast cancer risk; however, the association between alcohol and mammographic density, a strong marker of breast cancer risk, has been less consistent. Less is known about the effect of patterns of alcohol intake across the lifecourse.

Methods: Using the Early Determinants of Mammographic Density study, an adult follow-up of women born in two US birth cohorts (n = 697; Collaborative Perinatal Project in Boston and Providence sites and the Childhood Health and Development Studies in California), we examined the association between alcohol intake in early adulthood (ages 20-29 years) and at time of interview and mammographic density (percent density and total dense area).

Life course exposure to smoke and early menopause and menopausal transition.

Objective: Early age at menopause is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and all-cause mortality. Cigarette smoke exposure in adulthood is an established risk factor for earlier age at natural menopause and may be related to age at the menopausal transition. Using data from two US birth cohorts, we examined the association between smoke exposure at various stages of the life course (prenatal exposure, childhood exposure to parental smoking, and adult smoke exposure) and menopause status in 1,001 women aged 39 to 49 years at follow-up.

The association of alcohol consumption with mammographic density in a multiethnic urban population.

Background: Alcohol consumption is associated with higher breast cancer risk. While studies suggest a modest association between alcohol intake and mammographic density, few studies have examined the association in racial/ethnic minority populations.

Methods: We assessed dense breast area and total breast area from digitized film mammograms in an urban cohort of African American (42%), African Caribbean (22%), white (22%), and Hispanic Caribbean (9%) women (n = 189, ages 40-61).

Association of body mass index with embryonic aneuploidy.

Objective: To determine whether an association exists between body mass index (BMI) and embryo ploidy in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) with trophectoderm biopsy and 24-chromosome preimplantation genetic screening (PGS).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: University-based fertility center.