This study examines the trends in and determinants of length of postpartum amenorrhea during 1978-90 in Bangladesh. Data are obtained from the Matlab project. The sample comprises 6000 women per cohort for cohorts born in two year periods during 1978-80 and 1988-89. Reproductive and lactation records are available for up to 36 months following the birth of the index child. Findings indicate...

The proximate causes of the contraceptive effect of lactation are still a matter of productive debate. This study sought to disentangle the relative impact that intense breast-feeding practices and maternal nutrition have on the regulation of ovarian function in nursing women. A mixed-longitudinal, direct-observational, prospective study was conducted of the return to postpartum fecundity in 11...

Puberty represents a particular period of life characterized by hormonal changes and physical and psychological modifications leading children from childhood to adolescence. During this period, menarche represents the most important event in females. Age of menarche is different among populations and has been recognized as an useful marker of socio-economic status, as well as dietary and enviro...

Natural selection favors the optimal allocation of energy and other limiting resources to reproduction. Human reproductive physiology displays characteristic patterns that can be viewed as mechanisms that help optimize reproductive effort in the face of environmental energetic constraints. Female ovarian function is particularly sensitive to energy balance and energy flux, resulting in a synchr...

Pituitary causes of amenorrhea should be considered in women with low or normal gonadotropin levels. Pituitary causes of amenorrhea constitute 18% of cases of secondary amenorrhea and 7% of cases of primary amenorrhea (1). Hyperprolactinemia is the most common cause of pituitary amenorrhea, comprising 15% of all cases of secondary amenorrhea and 80% of pituitary cases of secondary amenorrhea (2...

Physicians have long recognized that malignant lymphogranulomatosis, or Hodgkin’s disease, occurs but one-third as frequently in women as it does in men. In the course of a previous study (1) it was noted that not only was this condition less common but that it also appeared to be less malignant in the female sex. As this was merely an impression, however, the literature was reviewed for statis...

BACKGROUND Data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a population-based, case-control study of breast cancer in African-American and white women residents of North Carolina, were evaluated to determine whether specific aspects of lactation are associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer. METHODS Analyses included 751 parous cases and 742 parous controls frequency-matched on age...

  Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is primarily a disease of women in their childbearing years. Risk for postpartum relapse is increased in the first 3 months after delivery. Previous studies of breastfeeding and postpartum relapse showed little or no benefit, but none examined exclusive breastfeeding. Methods: In this review article, electronic searches were undertaken in PubMed, Scholar...

Changes in insulin sensitivity play an important role in directing metabolic energy toward milk production in lactating mammals. In rats, prolactin causes upregulation of insulin receptors in mammary tissue together with an increase in peripheral insulin resistance, leading to a preferential allocation of energy to support milk production (1, 2). In humans, the shift in energy allocation during...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the causes of amenorrhea in Korean women. METHODS Medical records from 1,212 women with amenorrhea who visited the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Asan Medical Center, between January 1989 and December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Amenorrhea was categorized as either primary or secondary. RESULTS Primary amenorrhea was identified in 132 of the patien...