Dysmenorrhea, Workability, and Absenteeism in Australian Women.

This study determined the prevalence of bothersome menstrual symptoms and their association with workability in naturally menstruating women not using hormonal contraception. A representative sample of community-dwelling Australian women aged 18-39 years selected from two large national electronic databases responded to a survey on general health. This study focuses on self-reported dysmenorrhea and menstrual bleeding and their association with workability and absenteeism in working women, assessed by the Workability Index.

The impact of endometriosis on work ability in young Australian women.

Background: Whereas symptomatic endometriosis may affect work performance, the impact of endometriosis in the general community is not known.

Aims: The associations between endometriosis and each of sick leave and work ability, were investigated in a large sample of non-healthcare seeking women.

Materials And Methods: This community-based, cross-sectional study recruited 6986 women, aged 18-39 years, from three eastern states of Australia between 11 November 2016 and 21 July 2017.

Substituting serum anti-Müllerian hormone for polycystic ovary morphology increases the number of women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome: a community-based cross-sectional study.

Study Question: Can serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) replace polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) determined by ultrasound as a diagnostic component of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?

Summary Answer: Despite good correlations between serum AMH and PCOM, the use of a high serum AMH as a proxy for PCOM resulted in the reclassification of PCOS in 5% of study participants, with the main effect being more women identified, although some women previously classified as having PCOS were no longer classified as such.

What Is Known Already: AMH has been proposed as an alternative to PCOM as a diagnostic component of PCOS. Previous studies are limited by poorly defining PCOS, use of infertile women as comparators, measurement of hormones by immunoassay that lack precision in the female range, low-resolution ovarian ultrasound and inconsistent handling and storage of serum samples.

Testosterone and androstenedione are positively associated with anti-Müllerian hormone in premenopausal women.

Objective: To document associations between anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and circulating androgens in nonhealthcare-seeking premenopausal women.

Design: Community-based, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Eastern states of Australia.

Use of community-based reference ranges to estimate the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome by the recognised diagnostic criteria, a cross-sectional study.

Study Question: Does the application of reference ranges for sex steroids and the modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mFG) scale established in the community from which the study sample was drawn, combined with the most conservative polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) criteria to the recognised diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) improve the certainty of diagnosis of PCOS in non-healthcare-seeking women?

Summary Answer: Despite application of the stringent definitions of the elements used to diagnose PCOS in a non-healthcare seeking community-based sample, the risk of diagnostic uncertainty remains.

What Is Known Already: There is heterogeneity in prevalence estimates for PCOS due, in part, to lack of standardisation of the elements comprising the recognised National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rotterdam and Androgen Excess Society (AE-PCOS) diagnostic criteria. The AE-PCOS Society proposed refinements to the definitions of biochemical androgen excess and PCOM that can now be incorporated into these sets of diagnostic criteria to estimate PCOS prevalence.

Differing performance of two assays for the measurement of anti-Mullerian hormone in premenopausal women: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To compare the performance of two anti-Mullerian (AMH) assays over a range of concentrations, in samples collected from young women.

Design: A cross-sectional method-comparison study of 168 non-healthcare-seeking women.

Participants: Included women were aged 18-39 years, not recently pregnant, breast feeding or using systemic hormones.

Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms and Antidepressant Use in Young Australian Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Despite the high prevalence of depression among adult women, the proportion of reproductive-aged women with moderate or severe depressive symptoms is uncertain, as is the proportion taking antidepressant medication. We report the prevalence of depressive symptoms in young Australian women, risk factors for depressive symptoms, and psychoactive drug use. An online survey was completed by population-based sample of 6,986 Australian women, aged 18-39 years, recruited from November 2016 to July 2017.

Prevalence of Low Sexual Desire With Associated Distress Across the Adult Life Span: An Australian Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Although hypoactive sexual desire dysfunction (HSDD; low sexual desire with personal distress) negatively impacts well-being, contemporary life-course prevalence data for HSDD are lacking.

Aim: To document, in an epidemiologic study, the prevalence of low sexual desire with associated distress (epidemiological HSDD [eHSDD]), and associated psychosocial factors in Australian women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 10,554 women, aged 18-79 years, recruited from the community was performed.

Associations between androgens and sexual function in premenopausal women: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Although clinicians often measure the serum concentration of androgens in premenopausal women presenting with sexual dysfunction, with some women given testosterone or dehydroepiandrosterone as treatment if their concentrations are low, whether androgens are determinants of sexual function in women of reproductive age is uncertain. We aimed to clarify the associations between androgens and sexual function in a community-based sample of non-health-care-seeking women.

Methods: This is a substudy of the Grollo-Ruzzene cross-sectional study, which recruited women aged 18-39 years from eastern states in Australia (QLD, NSW, VIC).

The prevalence of sexual dysfunctions and sexually related distress in young women: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: To document the prevalence of female sexual dysfunctions (FSDs) and factors associated with FSDs and sexually related personal distress in premenopausal women.

Design: Community-based cross-sectional study.

Setting: Eastern states of Australia.

Distribution of Body Hair in Young Australian Women and Associations With Serum Androgen Concentrations.

Context: An important element of the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome is hyperandrogenism.

Objective: To determine the distribution of modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mF-G) scores, as a measure of facial and body hair growth, and associations between the mF-G scores and serum androgen concentrations, including 11-oxygenated androgens.

Design: Cross-sectional study of non-health-care-seeking women, aged 18 to 39 years, recruited from the eastern states of Australia from November 2016 to July 2017.

Androgens During the Reproductive Years: What Is Normal for Women?

Objective: Whether serum androgen levels can identify women with "androgen insufficiency" or "androgen excess" is unresolved; thus, what constitutes "normal" remains uncertain. We sought to determine whether androgens, including 11-oxygenated C19 steroids, vary with age, menstrual cycle, or body mass index (BMI), during the reproductive years.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional study recruited from eastern Australian states.

Hormonal contraceptive use in Australian women: Who is using what?

Background: In Australia many hormonal contraceptives are not Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) supported, hence the use of different formulations have not been quantified.

Objectives: To document the use of hormonal contraceptives and factors associated with their use.

Materials And Methods: Cross-sectional, online questionnaire-based study of 6986 Australian women, aged 18-39 years, recruited by email invitation from two large, representative databases.

Iron insufficiency among young Australian women: a population-based survey.

Background: Although serum ferritin is considered a reliable indicator of iron stores, there are few data documenting the prevalence of low ferritin in representative samples of young women.

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of low ferritin and to identify factors associated with low ferritin in young Australian women.

Methods: Women, aged 18-39 years, living in the eastern states of Australia were recruited by email to a cross-sectional, online questionnaire-based study between November 2016 and July 2017.

Challenges in recruitment to an epidemiological study of young Australian women: the Grollo-Ruzzene Foundation Young Women's Health Study.

Objective: To describe the challenges in recruitment of a national sample of young Australian women for a study of their physical and psychological wellbeing.

Methods: Women, aged 18 to 39 years, were invited by email to complete an online questionnaire and, if not using systemic hormones, pregnant or breast feeding, to provide a blood sample.

Results: A total of 94,546 email invitations were sent.

Understanding variation in prevalence estimates of polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) prevalence estimates vary when different diagnostic criteria are applied. Lack of standardization of individual elements within these criteria may contribute to prevalence differences.

Objective And Rationale: A systematic review of studies reporting prevalence of PCOS, using at least one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rotterdam or Androgen Excess Society (AE-PCOS) criteria, was conducted.

Mind the Gap: Mismatches Between Clinicians and Patients in Heart Failure Medication Management.

Purpose: Previous studies on the 'treatment gap' in patients with heart failure (HF) have focused either on prescribing or patients' adherence to prescribed treatment. This study sought to determine whether or not recent initiatives to close the gap have also minimised any mismatches between physicians' expectation of their patients' medications, medications in the patients' possession and their actual medication use.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational survey was conducted from December 2015 to June 2016 in The Alfred Hospital HF clinic in Melbourne, Australia.

The treatment gap in patients with chronic systolic heart failure: a systematic review of evidence-based prescribing in practice.

The extent and impact of under-prescribing of evidence-based pharmacological therapies among heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFREF) in contemporary practice is unclear. We sought to examine the prescribing patterns of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), β-blockers (BBs) and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs), and to quantify the estimated 'treatment gap' among HFREF patients in the 'real-world' setting. The MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL databases were searched for registry- or survey-based studies which examined the prescribing rates of ACE inhibitors, ARBs, BBs and MRAs among HFREF patients.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and cardiovascular outcomes: meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials with 55,141 participants.

Aims: The association between glucose lowering in diabetes mellitus and major cardiovascular (CV) outcomes is weak; indeed, some oral hypoglycemic agents are associated with increased CV events. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4 inhibitors) are a new class of oral hypoglycemic agent that may have beneficial CV effects. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to appraise the CV safety and efficacy of DPP-4 inhibitors.