Lifetime history of gestational diabetes and cognitive function in parous women in midlife.

Aims/hypothesis: We aimed to determine whether a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with cognitive function in midlife.

Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the prospective Nurses' Health Study II. From 1989 to 2001, and then in 2009, participants reported their history of GDM.

Assessing causal links between age at menarche and adolescent mental health: a Mendelian randomisation study.

Background: The timing of puberty may have an important impact on adolescent mental health. In particular, earlier age at menarche has been associated with elevated rates of depression in adolescents. Previous research suggests that this relationship may be causal, but replication and an investigation of whether this effect extends to other mental health domains is warranted.

Childhood maltreatment and health in the UK Biobank: triangulation of outcome-wide and polygenic risk score analyses.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is common globally and impacts morbidity, mortality, and well-being. Our understanding of its impact is constrained by key substantive and methodological limitations of extant research, including understudied physical health outcomes and bias due to unmeasured confounding. We address these limitations through a large-scale outcome-wide triangulation study.

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptom remission and cognition in a large cohort of civilian women.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with cognitive impairments. It is unclear whether problems persist after PTSD symptoms remit.

Methods: Data came from 12 270 trauma-exposed women in the Nurses' Health Study II.

Associations between health behaviours, fertility and reproductive outcomes: triangulation of evidence in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Background: Guidance to improve fertility includes reducing alcohol and caffeine consumption, achieving healthy weight-range and stopping smoking. Advice is informed by observational evidence, which is often biased by confounding.

Methods: This study primarily used data from a pregnancy cohort, the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.

Intimate Partner Violence, Mental Health Symptoms, and Modifiable Health Factors in Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US.

Importance: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence and severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) increased. Associations between IPV and mental health symptoms and modifiable health factors early in the pandemic have yet to be explored.

Objective: To prospectively investigate the association of IPV with greater risk of mental health symptoms and adverse health factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in 3 cohorts of female participants.

Trauma, psychological distress and markers of systemic inflammation among US women: A longitudinal study.

Background: Prior evidence links posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, separately, with chronic inflammation. However, whether effects are similar across each independently or potentiated when both are present is understudied. We evaluated combined measures of PTSD and depression in relation to inflammatory biomarker concentrations.

Association of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With Accelerated Cognitive Decline in Middle-aged Women.

Importance: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been hypothesized to lead to impaired cognitive function. However, no large-scale studies have assessed whether PTSD is prospectively associated with cognitive decline in middle-aged adults.

Objective: To assess the association between PTSD and decline in cognitive function over time.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and timing of menopause and gynecological surgery in the Nurses' Health Study II.

Background: Earlier menopause, either natural or through gynecologic surgeries, has been associated with various negative health sequelae. While posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to dysregulated biological processes, including reproductive system changes that could alter menopausal timing, little work has examined whether trauma and PTSD are associated with greater risk of early cessation of menses.

Methods: Data are from 46,639 women in the Nurses' Health Study II, a prospective cohort study of women followed for up to 26 years.

Sexual violence and hypertension risk in women: an interview with Rebecca Lawn.

Dr Rebecca Lawn is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses' Health Study II: A 7-Year Prospective Analysis.

Background Hypertension is a prevalent condition in women and an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite women's experiences of sexual violence being common, no prospective studies have examined lifetime sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment in relationship to hypertension in large civilian samples with extended follow-up. Here, we examined whether these experiences were prospectively associated with greater risk of developing hypertension over 7 years.

The association of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and head injury with mid-life cognitive function in civilian women.

Background: Despite evidence linking posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and head injury, separately, with worse cognitive performance, investigations of their combined effects on cognition are limited in civilian women.

Methods: The Cogstate Brief Battery assessment was administered in 10,681 women from the Nurses' Health Study II cohort, mean age 64.9 years (SD = 4.

Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Treatment Among Middle-Aged and Older Women in the Nurses' Health Study II.

Objective: Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common among women and associated with negative health outcomes across the life course. Relatively few studies, however, have examined the epidemiology of trauma, PTSD, and treatment among middle-aged and older civilian women, who are at elevated risk for adverse health outcomes. We aimed to characterize trauma, PTSD, and trauma-related treatment prevalence and correlates in a large cohort of middle-aged and older women.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Likelihood of Hormone Therapy Use among Women in the Nurses' Health Study II: A 26-Year Prospective Analysis.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with higher risk of certain chronic diseases, including ovarian cancer, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Although prior work has linked menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) use with elevated ovarian cancer risk, little research considers PTSD to likelihood of MHT use. We examined whether PTSD was prospectively associated with greater likelihood of initiating MHT use over 26 years.

The effects of age at menarche and first sexual intercourse on reproductive and behavioural outcomes: A Mendelian randomization study.

There is substantial variation in the timing of significant reproductive life events such as menarche and first sexual intercourse. Life history theory explains this variation as an adaptive response to an individual's environment and it is important to examine how traits within life history strategies affect each other. Here we applied Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to investigate whether there is a causal effect of variation in age at menarche and age at first sexual intercourse (markers or results of exposure to early life adversity) on outcomes related to reproduction, education and risky behaviour in UK Biobank (N = 114 883-181 255).

Identifying potential causal effects of age at menarche: a Mendelian randomization phenome-wide association study.

Background: Age at menarche has been associated with various health outcomes. We aimed to identify potential causal effects of age at menarche on health-related traits in a hypothesis-free manner.

Methods: We conducted a Mendelian randomization phenome-wide association study (MR-pheWAS) of age at menarche with 17,893 health-related traits in UK Biobank (n = 181,318) using PHESANT.

Evidence for causal effects of lifetime smoking on risk for depression and schizophrenia: a Mendelian randomisation study.

Background: Smoking prevalence is higher amongst individuals with schizophrenia and depression compared with the general population. Mendelian randomisation (MR) can examine whether this association is causal using genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Methods: We conducted two-sample MR to explore the bi-directional effects of smoking on schizophrenia and depression.

Schizophrenia risk and reproductive success: a Mendelian randomization study.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating and heritable mental disorder associated with lower reproductive success. However, the prevalence of schizophrenia is stable over populations and time, resulting in an evolutionary puzzle: how is schizophrenia maintained in the population, given its apparent fitness costs? One possibility is that increased genetic liability for schizophrenia, in the absence of the disorder itself, may confer some reproductive advantage. We assessed the correlation and causal effect of genetic liability for schizophrenia with number of children, age at first birth and number of sexual partners using data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and UK Biobank.