Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jul 6:5:261.
doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-261.

Studying forced expiratory volume at 1 second over menstrual segments in asthmatic and non-asthmatic women: assessing protocol feasibility

Ganesa Wegienka  1 , Ewa Hasiec, Homer Boushey, Christine Cole Johnson, Ronald Strickler, Edward Zoratti, Suzanne Havstad
Affiliations

Studying forced expiratory volume at 1 second over menstrual segments in asthmatic and non-asthmatic women: assessing protocol feasibility

Ganesa Wegienka et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Background: Sex hormones may play an important role in observed gender differences in asthma incidence and severity, as well as in the observed changes in asthma symptoms during times of hormonal fluctuation (i.e.; premenstrual, pregnancy, etc.). This pilot study sought to demonstrate the feasibility of data collection methods to investigate the effects of sex hormones on lung function in women.

Findings: A cohort of 13 women (6 with and 7 without prior asthma diagnoses) who were having menstrual periods and were not taking hormones collected urine samples daily for measurement of estrogen (estrone E1C) and progesterone (Pregnanediol-glucuronide PDG) metabolites over the course of a menstrual segment (bleeding episode plus the following bleeding-free interval). Hormones were used to estimate menstrual segment phase (follicular versus luteal) based on a published algorithm. Daily bleeding and FEV1 measurements were recorded and percent predicted FEV1 was calculated. Percent predicted FEV1 decreased over the course of the follicular but not the luteal phase. More specifically, among women without a prior asthma diagnosis, the E1C/PDG ratio and E1C and PDG were individually associated with FEV1 in the follicular phase. No associations were found between hormones and percent predicted FEV1 in the luteal phase or among asthmatic women. E1C was associated with FEV1 in the five days before bleeding onset only among non-asthmatic women.

Discussion: A study of contiguous daily hormones and symptoms over menstrual segments from a large group of women with and without asthma is needed to better determine within-woman cyclicity of the observed patterns.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A plot of the association between day relative to ovulation and percent predicted FEV1 in the follicular phase. A. The blue dashed line is for participants without asthma and the red dashed line is for participants with asthma. The solid line is the groups combined. B. A plot of the association between day relative to ovulation and percent predicted FEV1 in the luteal phase. The blue dashed line is for participants without asthma and the red dashed line is for participants with asthma. The solid line is the groups combined.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The log of E1C/PDG ratio of hormone levels (x axis) associated with percent predicted FEV1 (y axis) in the follicular phase among all women. For purposes of illustrating the relationship between hormones and FEV1, the menstrual segment day is held constant at 7 days prior to ovulation date for the plot.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The log of PDG hormone level (x axis) associated with percent predicted FEV1 (y axis), adjusted for log of E1C in the follicular phase among all women. For purposes of illustrating the relationship between log PDG and FEV1, menstrual segment day is held constant at 7 days prior to ovulation and log E1C is set to its mean value.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The log of E1C/PDG ratio of hormone levels (x axis) associated with percent predicted FEV1 (y axis) in the follicular phase among women with no prior asthma diagnosis. For purposes of illustrating the relationship between log ratio and FEV1, menstrual segment day is held constant at 7 days prior to ovulation.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The log of E1C hormone level (x axis) associated with percent predicted FEV1 (y axis) in the follicular phase among women with no prior asthma diagnosis. For purposes of illustrating the relationship between log ratio and FEV1, menstrual segment day is held constant at 7 days prior to ovulation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The log of PDG hormone level (x axis) associated with percent predicted FEV1 (y axis) in the follicular phase among women with no prior asthma diagnosis. For purposes of illustrating the relationship between log PDG and FEV1, menstrual segment day is held constant at 7 days prior to ovulation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web page on asthma. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/asthma03-05/asthma03-05.htm (last accessed November 30, 2010)
    1. Balzano G, Fuschillo S, Melillo G, Bonini S. Asthma and sex hormones. Allergy. 2001;56:13–20. doi: 10.1034/j.1398-9995.2001.00128.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carey MA, Card JW, Voltz JW. et al.It’s all about sex: gender, lung development and lung disease. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2007;18:308–313. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2007.08.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haggerty CL, Ness RB, Kelsey S, Waterer GW. The impact of estrogen and progesterone on asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2003;90:284–291. doi: 10.1016/S1081-1206(10)61794-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hankinson JL, Odencrantz JR, Fedan KB. Spirometric reference values from a sample of the general U.S. population. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1999;159:179–187. - PubMed

Publication types