New findings from non-linear longitudinal modelling of menopausal hormone changes

Abstract

Changes in FSH and estradiol (E2) across the menopausal transition are clearly not linear. The present study utilizes data from 204 women who completed the 13-year prospective Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project. E2, FSH, symptoms, self-rated health, mood, sexual function and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk were measured longitudinally. We presumed an s-shaped curve for each hormone and estimated five parameters for each hormone curve for each woman: baseline, final value, range, slope at inflexion point and age at inflexion point. These parameters were found to adequately estimate the curve for each hormone. The median age of transition observed for E2 occurs >1 year later than the m..