The inter-relationship of premenstrual symptoms.

The prospective symptom reports of women seeking treatment for premenstrual symptoms and control subjects was investigated. In order to compare symptom reports from premenstrual symptom sufferers and control subjects a method of combining and analysing prospectively collected menstrual cycle symptom data is required. A technique that uses the time of onset of menses and the time of ovulation (as measured by urinary luteinizing hormone excretion) to standardize each cycle into 14 time points was developed.

Australian women's perceptions of hormone replacement therapy over 10 years.

The knowledge, beliefs and experience of 60 women with HRT was studied when the women were premenopausal, and 10 years later when they were postmenopausal. Thirty-eight women had taken HRT by 1993. In 1993 women no longer considered clinics and self help groups to be the most useful sources of information about the menopause.

Attitudes to body weight, weight gain and eating behavior in pregnancy.

The eating behavior and attitudes to body weight of 100 healthy women were studied 3 days after the birth of their first child. During pregnancy women 'watch their weight' and use a range of methods of weight control which include cigarette smoking and inducing vomiting. During pregnancy 41 women reported weight control problems and 20 women considered their weight and eating problems to be greater than at any previous time.

Changes in Australian women's perception of the menopause and menopausal symptoms before and after the climacteric.

The symptoms and perceptions of menopause of 60 Australian women were studied, by questionnaire, when they were premenopausal and 10 years later when they were postmenopausal. Menopausal symptoms expected and experienced by the women were compared, fewer women experiencing hot flushes, headache, depression and nervousness and more experiencing insomnia, increase in appetite, abdominal fullness, numbness and muscular problems. The symptoms women thought were due to hormonal changes at menopause were compared.

Psychological and sexual changes after the cessation of breast-feeding.

Objective: To characterize the effect of breast-feeding cessation on the mood and sexuality of women after the birth of their first child.

Methods: Women in good physical and psychological health, who had been breast-feeding for 6-23 months and had responded to a request for subjects in a parents' magazine, collected data daily for 2 months before and 2 months after weaning. They were asked to rate 14 measures of psychological, physical, and sexual variables at the same time each day on 3- or 5-point scales.

Should ovulation be induced in women recovering from an eating disorder or who are compulsive exercisers?

The eating and exercise history of women with secondary amenorrhea and failure of ovulation using CC was studied in 14 consecutive women on a GnRH-a program. All had a history of an eating or exercise disorder. At the time of the interview, 7 women continued to have an eating or exercise disorder.

Menstruation, menstrual protection and menstrual cycle problems. The knowledge, attitudes and practices of young Australian women.

The results of a survey of 1377 young Australian women aged 14 to 19 years, conducted to determine their attitudes, state of knowledge and practices with regard to menstruation, are presented. The young women, as a group, lacked sufficient information about menstruation, about the time of ovulation, about menstrual discharge, and about the use of tampons. A high proportion (80%) considered menstruation to be inconvenient or embarrassing.

Changes in sodium and uric acid concentrations in plasma during the menstrual cycle.

Hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle are well documented, but many other biochemical variables have not been studied. We find that in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle the concentrations of sodium and uric acid are significantly lower. The changes may be of significance for the determination of the normal reference interval.

Eating behaviours among young women.

Disordered eating and weight-control behaviour is becoming increasingly common among adolescent girls. We studied four groups of young women aged between 15 and 27 years (106 school and university students, 50 ballet school students, 22 patients suffering from anorexia nervosa and 44 patients with bulimia). Our results suggest that most young women diet at some time and lose more than three kg in weight; that they may experience episodes of binge eating and "picking" behaviour; and that they wish to be thinner irrespective of their current body weight.

External breast prostheses. A survey of their use by women after mastectomy.

Women who have had a mastectomy for breast cancer have to cope with two major problems: first, that they have cancer, and second, that they have lost their physical appearance. The provision of an appropriate prosthesis can reduce the sense of disfigurement. If women were to obtain the full psychological benefit of wearing a breast prosthesis, they need to be informed about the available breast forms, have an opportunity to choose between them, and to be satisfied with their choice.

Body weight, exercise and menstrual status among ballet dancers in training.

A prospective study of the menstrual pattern and weight changes was made in the first year of training of 29 new female entrants to a professional ballet school. Seventy-nine per cent of the student girls had menstrual disturbances at entry: primary amenorrhoea, four; secondary amenorrhoea, 11; irregular menses, eight. The incidence of secondary amenorrhoea increase substantially by the end of the year (20), but was not associated with any significant change in body weight.

Pregnancy and childbirth: is the doctor necessary?

The changing fashions in childbirth over the past 200 years are related to the present demand by women and their partners for "participatory" childbirth, including homebirth. The argument is advanced that doctors must be responsive to these changes. The opinion is made that home birth is currently inappropriate, but that hospitals should provide "birth centres"; and that obstetrics should be conducted by a "team", in which nurse-midwives and family doctors play as important a role as specialist obstetricians.

The training of medical students.

A continuing preoccupation, perhaps an occupational neurosis, of Deans and of Medical Faculties seems to be curricular change. It is fashionable, it is progressive, it demonstrates to outsiders the educational dynamic of medicine.