Female sex hormones and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea in European women of a population-based cohort.

Background: The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea is higher in women after menopause. This is suggested to be a result of an altered sex hormone balance but has so far not been confirmed in a population-based study.

Objective: To investigate whether serum concentration of estrogens and progesterone are associated with the prevalence of sleep apnea symptoms in middle-aged women of the general population.

Premature menopause and autoimmune primary ovarian insufficiency in two international multi-center cohorts.

Objective: To investigate markers of premature menopause (<40 years) and specifically the prevalence of autoimmune primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) in European women.

Design: Postmenopausal women were categorized according to age at menopause and self-reported reason for menopause in a cross-sectional analysis of 6870 women.

Methods: Variables associated with the timing of menopause and hormone measurements of 17β-estradiol and follicle-stimulating hormone were explored using multivariable logistic regression analysis.

Residential green space and age at menarche in German and Australian adolescent girls: A longitudinal study.

Background: A large multicentre European study reported later onset of menopause among women residing in greener areas. This influence on the timing of a reproductive event like menopause, raises the question whether similar associations can be observed with timing of menarche. We investigated whether exposure to residential green space was related to the age at menarche in German and Australian adolescent girls.

Ascaris exposure and its association with lung function, asthma, and DNA methylation in Northern Europe.

Background: Ascaris infections, with a worldwide prevalence above 10%, can cause respiratory pathology. However, long-term effects on lung function in humans are largely unknown.

Objective: We investigated the associations of Ascaris exposure with lung function, asthma, and DNA methylation.

Lifelong exposure to residential greenspace and the premenstrual syndrome: A population-based study of Northern European women.

Background: The premenstrual syndrome (PMS) causes clinically relevant psychological and physical symptoms in up to 20% of women of reproductive age. To date, no studies have investigated the relationship between PMS and residential surrounding greenspace, although a green living environment has been reported to have beneficial associations with overall and reproductive health.

Objective: To investigate whether lifelong exposure to residential surrounding greenspace is associated with PMS and whether such an association is mediated by BMI, air pollution or physical activity.

Childhood lung function as a determinant of menopause-dependent lung function decline.

Rationale: The naturally occurring age-dependent decline in lung function accelerates after menopause, likely due to the change of the endocrine balance. Although increasing evidence shows suboptimal lung health in early life can increase adult  susceptibility to insults, the potential effect of poor childhood lung function on menopause-dependent lung function decline has not yet been investigated.

Objectives: To study whether menopause-dependent lung function decline, assessed as forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), is determined by childhood lung function.

Outdoor air pollution and hormone-assessed pubertal development in children: Results from the GINIplus and LISA birth cohorts.

Background: Air pollution is hypothesized to affect pubertal development. However, the few studies on this topic yielded overall mixed results. These studies did not consider important pollutants like ozone, and none of them involved pubertal development assessed by estradiol and testosterone measurements.

Ultraviolet radiation as a predictor of sex hormone levels in postmenopausal women: A European multi-center study (ECRHS).

Background: Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) affects the body through pathways that exhibit positive as well as negative health effects such as immunoregulation and vitamin D production. Different vitamin D metabolites are associated with higher or lower concentrations of estrogens and may thus alter the female sex hormone balance.

Objective: To study whether exposure to UVR, as a modifiable lifestyle factor, is associated with levels of sex hormones (17β-estradiol, estrone, estrone 3-sulfate, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate), gonadotropins (follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone) as well as sex hormone binding globulin in postmenopausal women, and thus investigate whether managing UVR exposure can influence the hormone balance, with potential benefits for the biological aging process.

Describing the status of reproductive ageing simply and precisely: A reproductive ageing score based on three questions and validated with hormone levels.

Objective: Most women live to experience menopause and will spend 4-8 years transitioning from fertile age to full menstrual stop. Biologically, reproductive ageing is a continuous process, but by convention, it is defined categorically as pre-, peri- and postmenopause; categories that are sometimes supported by measurements of sex hormones in blood samples. We aimed to develop and validate a new tool, a reproductive ageing score (RAS), that could give a simple and yet precise description of the status of reproductive ageing, without hormone measurements, to be used by health professionals and researchers.

Low serum DHEA-S is associated with impaired lung function in women.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that androgens and estrogens have a role in respiratory health, but it is largely unknown whether levels of these hormones can affect lung function in adults from the general population. This study investigated whether serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), a key precursor of both androgens and estrogens in peripheral tissues, was related to lung function in adult women participating in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

Methods: Lung function and serum DHEA-S concentrations were measured in  = 2,045 and  = 1,725 women in 1999-2002 and in 2010-2013, respectively.

Association of adult lung function with accelerated biological aging.

Lung function, strongly associated with morbidity and mortality, decreases with age. This study examines whether poor adult lung function is associated with age accelerations (AAs). DNA methylation (DNAm) based AAs, lifespan predictors (GrimAge and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1-PAI1) and their related age-adjusted measures were estimated from peripheral blood at two time points (8-to-11 years apart) in adults from two cohorts: SAPALDIA (n=987) and ECRHS (n=509).

Residential surrounding greenspace and age at menopause: A 20-year European study (ECRHS).

Background: Menopause is associated with a number of adverse health effects and its timing has been reported to be influenced by several lifestyle factors. Whether greenspace exposure is associated with age at menopause has not yet been investigated.

Objective: To investigate whether residential surrounding greenspace is associated with age at menopause and thus reproductive aging.

Exogenous female sex steroids may reduce lung ageing after menopause: A 20-year follow-up study of a general population sample (ECRHS).

Objectives: Menopause involves hypoestrogenism, which is associated with numerous detrimental effects, including on respiratory health. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is often used to improve symptoms of menopause. The effects of HRT on lung function decline, hence lung ageing, have not yet been investigated despite the recognized effects of HRT on other health outcomes.

Menopause Is Associated with Accelerated Lung Function Decline.

Rationale: Menopause is associated with changes in sex hormones, which affect immunity, inflammation, and osteoporosis and may impair lung function. Lung function decline has not previously been investigated in relation to menopause.

Objectives: To study whether lung function decline, assessed by FVC and FEV, is accelerated in women who undergo menopause.

Menopause as a predictor of new-onset asthma: A longitudinal Northern European population study.

Background: There is limited and conflicting evidence on the effect of menopause on asthma.

Objectives: We sought to study whether the incidence of asthma and respiratory symptoms differ by menopausal status in a longitudinal population-based study with an average follow-up of 12 years.

Methods: The Respiratory Health in Northern Europe study provided questionnaire data pertaining to respiratory and reproductive health at baseline (1999-2001) and follow-up (2010-2012).

Continuous subcutaneous hydrocortisone infusion versus oral hydrocortisone replacement for treatment of addison's disease: a randomized clinical trial.

Context: Conventional glucocorticoid replacement therapy fails to mimic the physiological cortisol rhythm, which may have implications for morbidity and mortality in patients with Addison's disease.

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the effects of continuous sc hydrocortisone infusion (CSHI) with conventional oral hydrocortisone (OHC) replacement therapy.

Design, Patients, And Interventions: This was a prospective crossover, randomized, multicenter clinical trial comparing 3 months of treatment with thrice-daily OHC vs CSHI.