Menstruation and Ovulation Study (MOS)

Even if women's menstrual cycles are regular, they may not include release of an egg (ovulation) or result in the production of progesterone. Lack of ovulation (or anovulation) was found to occur about 10-18% of the time in two studies of women randomly sampled from the population. When ovulation doesn't occur, there is a hormone imbalance in which estrogen levels exceed progesterone levels. This imbalance has been correlated to infertility, bone loss, heavy flow, and anemia in premenopausal women. Lack of ovulation during women's younger years also increases menopausal women's risk of breast and endometrial cancers and heart disease.

The MOS investigation aims to determine the validity of a questionnaire method for assessing whether a woman is ovulatory, anovulatory, or probably ovulatory. It will compare responses given by women to questions regarding their experiences with their menstrual cycles to their urinary progesterone levels. A minimum of 600 menstruating women, who are between the ages of 20 and 40 and not currently on any reproductive hormonal therapy (such as oral contraceptives) will be enrolled to participate in this research. If our findings validate the use of a questionnaire method to assess ovulation in women, it would be an invaluable tool in epidemiological studies in women's health.

Study Participation

We are no longer recruiting participants for this study.