Athletic activity and hormone concentrations in high school female athletes.

Context: Physical activity may affect the concentrations of circulating endogenous hormones in female athletes. Understanding the relationship between athletic and physical activity and circulating female hormone concentrations is critical.

Objective: To test the hypotheses that (1) the estradiol-progesterone profile of high school adolescent girls participating in training, conditioning, and competition would differ from that of physically inactive, age-matched adolescent girls throughout a 3-month period; and (2) athletic training and conditioning would alter body composition (muscle, bone), leading to an increasingly greater lean-body-mass to fat-body-mass ratio with accompanying hormonal changes.

Changes in bone resorption across the menopause transition: effects of reproductive hormones, body size, and ethnicity.

Objective: Our objective was to characterize changes in bone resorption in relation to the final menstrual period (FMP), reproductive hormones, body mass index (BMI), and ethnicity.

Methods: Urinary type I collagen N-telopeptide (NTX), estradiol, and FSH levels were measured annually for up to 8 years spanning the menopause transition in 918 African American, Chinese, Japanese, or Caucasian women.

Results: Urinary NTX began to increase sharply about 2 years before the FMP, reaching its peak level about 1 to 1.

Associations of testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin with adipose tissue hormones in midlife women.

Objective: Regulators of adipose tissue hormones remain incompletely understood, but may include sex hormones. As adipose tissue hormones have been shown to contribute to numerous metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, understanding their regulation in midlife women is of clinical importance. Therefore, we assessed the associations between testosterone (T) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) with leptin, high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin, and the soluble form of the leptin receptor (sOB-R) in healthy midlife women.

Bone resorption and fracture across the menopausal transition: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation.

Objective: Bone turnover markers (BTMs) predict fracture in older women, whereas data on younger women are lacking. To test the hypothesis that BTMs measured before and after menopause predict fracture risk, we performed a cohort study of 2,305 women.

Methods: Women attended up to nine clinic visits for an average of 7.

Race-ethnic differences in adipokine levels: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

Differences in adipose tissue secretory profile, as measured by adipokine levels, may play a role in race-ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD). We examined race-ethnic differences in adipokine levels in a group of mid-life Caucasian, African American (AA), Chinese and Japanese women, after accounting for adiposity. Data on 1876 women from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation were analyzed.

Menopausal transition stage-specific changes in circulating adrenal androgens.

Objective: It is now recognized that mean circulating dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) concentrations in most midlife women exhibit a positive inflection starting in early perimenopause, continuing through early postmenopause and returning to early perimenopausal levels by late postmenopause. This rise in mean DHEAS is accompanied by concomitant rises in testosterone (T), dehydroepiandrosteone (DHEA), and androstenedione (Adione) and an equal rise in androstenediol (Adiol). These observations suggest that there is a specific relationship between the circulating levels of steroids emanating from the adrenal glands, declining ovarian function, and the stages of the menopausal transition.

Urinary bisphenol A and type-2 diabetes in U.S. adults: data from NHANES 2003-2008.

Objective: Bisphenol A (BPA) is found in plastics and other consumer products; exposure may lead to insulin resistance and development of type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through over-activation of pancreatic β-cells. Previous studies using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed an inconsistent association between prevalence of self-reported T2DM and urinary BPA. We used a different diagnosis method of T2DM (hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)) with a larger subset of NHANES.

Adiposity and the menopausal transition.

This review summarizes the published literature on the potentially circular relationship between adiposity and the menopause. Although data are limited, current information suggests there are substantial effects of obesity and adiposity on the magnitude of hormone changes experienced during the transition, as well as on the risks of chronic disease resulting from the menopause transition. However, evidence regarding the reverse, namely, effects of the menopause transition and its associated hormone changes on weight gain and redistribution of body fat, are inconclusive.

The relationship of birth weight with longitudinal changes in body composition in adult women.

Most research on birth weight and adult health status has reported adult measures at a single time point. This study examined the relationship of self-reported birth weight to longitudinal changes in adult body composition in 587 women of the Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study, followed from 1992 to 2007 and aged 24-50 years at baseline. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the association between three birth weight categories and women's 15-year changes in adult weight, height, BMI, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and fat, lean, and skeletal muscle mass.

Change in follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol across the menopausal transition: effect of age at the final menstrual period.

Background And Objective: To determine whether patterns of change in serum estradiol (E2) and FSH across the menopausal transition were associated with age at the final menstrual period (FMP).

Design And Setting: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) is a seven-site, multiethnic, longitudinal study of the menopausal transition being conducted in 3302 menstruating women who were aged 42-52 yr at the 1996 study baseline.

Measurements: Annually collected serum was assayed for E2 and FSH levels.

Vitamin D and subsequent systolic hypertension among women.

Background: We examined data from a cohort of Caucasian women for evidence of an association between serum vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)) insufficiency and greater risk of systolic hypertension in the population-based longitudinal Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study (MBHMS).

Methods: The cohort includes 559 women aged 24-44 years in 1992; annual blood pressure (BP) measurements and data collection began in 1992 and is ongoing. A single-time serum 25(OH)D level was measured in 1993.

Cardiovascular disease risk of abdominal obesity vs. metabolic abnormalities.

It remains unclear whether abdominal obesity increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk independent of the metabolic abnormalities that often accompany it. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the independent effects of abdominal obesity vs. metabolic syndrome and diabetes on the risk for incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.

Physical functioning among mid-life women: associations with trajectory of depressive symptoms.

During midlife, physical functioning limitations emerge and depressive symptoms are highly prevalent. We examined the relationship between physical functioning and depressive symptoms in the Michigan Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) cohort of mid-life women (n = 377). Seven performance-based physical functioning measures quantifying strength, balance, coordination, flexibility and range of motion and perceived physical functioning, assessed with the SF-36 physical functioning sub-score, were included.

American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical practice guideline: update on adjuvant endocrine therapy for women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Purpose: To develop evidence-based guidelines, based on a systematic review, for endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Methods: A literature search identified relevant randomized trials. Databases searched included MEDLINE, PREMEDLINE, the Cochrane Collaboration Library, and those for the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

High-molecular-weight adiponectin and incident ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a Women's Health Initiative Study.

Background And Purpose: Although low levels of adiponectin are associated with coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease risk factors, it is unclear whether adiponectin levels are related to the risk of developing ischemic stroke.

Methods: We examined the relationship between baseline high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin levels and incident ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women using data and specimens from the Hormones and Biomarkers Predicting Stroke Study, a case-control study nested within the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. Included were 855 incident ischemic stroke cases and 855 control subjects matched for age, race-ethnicity, date of entry into the cohort, and follow-up time.

The evolving role of obesity in knee osteoarthritis.

Purpose Of Review: The frequency of knee osteoarthritis continues to accelerate, likely because of the increasing proliferation of obesity, particularly in men and women 40-60 years of age at the leading edge of the 'baby boom' demographic expansion. The increasing pervasiveness of obesity and the growing appreciation of obesity's accompanying metabolic/inflammatory activities suggest rethinking the knee osteoarthritis paradigm.

Recent Findings: Whereas once knee osteoarthritis was considered a 'wear-and-tear' condition, it is now recognized that knee osteoarthritis exists in the highly metabolic and inflammatory environments of adiposity.

Amount of bone loss in relation to time around the final menstrual period and follicle-stimulating hormone staging of the transmenopause.

Background And Objective: The objective of the study was to describe bone loss rates across the transmenopause related to FSH staging and the final menstrual period (FMP).

Design And Setting: This was a population-based cohort of 629 women (baseline age 24-44 yr) with annual data points over 15 yr.

Measurements: Measures were bone mineral density (BMD), FSH to define four FSH stages, and menstrual bleeding cessation to define the FMP.

Gains in body fat and vasomotor symptom reporting over the menopausal transition: the study of women's health across the nation.

Although most women report vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats) during midlife, their etiology and risk factors are incompletely understood. Body fat is positively associated with vasomotor symptoms cross-sectionally, but the longitudinal relation between changes in body fat and vasomotor symptoms is uncharacterized. The study aim was to examine whether gains in body fat were related to vasomotor symptom reporting over time.

Sex steroid metabolism polymorphisms and mammographic density in pre- and early perimenopausal women.

Introduction: We examined the association between mammographic density and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding CYP1A1, CYP1B1, aromatase, 17beta-HSD, ESR1, and ESR2 in pre- and early perimenopausal white, African-American, Chinese, and Japanese women.

Methods: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation is a longitudinal community-based cohort study. We analyzed data from 451 pre- and early perimenopausal participants of the ancillary SWAN Mammographic Density study for whom we had complete information regarding mammographic density, genotypes, and covariates.

Assessment of physical functioning: a conceptual model encompassing environmental factors and individual compensation strategies.

Commonly studied physical functions include activities such as walking and climbing stairs. Despite the acknowledged role of environmental factors and behavioral strategies to compensate for reduced performance capacity or environmental barriers in characterizing physical functioning, most assessments do not take these factors into account. This article presents a new conceptual model for assessment of relevant physical functioning while accounting for habitual environmental factors and compensation strategies.

Levels of sex steroid and cardiovascular disease measures in premenopausal and hormone-treated women at midlife: implications for the "timing hypothesis".

Background: The "timing hypothesis," in addressing findings from the Women's Health Initiative trial, suggests that hormone therapy (HT) should be initiated within 6 years of the menopause transition to extend a favorable estrogenic environment after menopause.

Methods: We compared sex steroid and cardiovascular profiles at the 5-year follow-up visit in a community-based, longitudinal study of the menopause transition (Study of Women's Health Across the Nation). Women aged 47 to 57 years were in 1 of 4 groups: premenopausal, women using conjugated equine estrogen with or without progestin, or postmenopausal (<5 years) without HT use.

The obese without cardiometabolic risk factor clustering and the normal weight with cardiometabolic risk factor clustering: prevalence and correlates of 2 phenotypes among the US population (NHANES 1999-2004).

Background: The prevalence and correlates of obese individuals who are resistant to the development of the adiposity-associated cardiometabolic abnormalities and normal-weight individuals who display cardiometabolic risk factor clustering are not well known.

Methods: The prevalence and correlates of combined body mass index (normal weight, < 25.0; overweight, 25.