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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Causes Control. 2017 Oct 31;28(12):1441–1452. doi: 10.1007/s10552-017-0971-2

Table 5.

Summary of statistically significant associations between menstrual cycle characteristics and endogenous hormones in 2,745 premenopausal women from the Nurses’ Health Study II, age 32–52 years at the time of plasma collection1

Age at
menarche		 Cycle length
at age 18–22		 Cycle length
in adulthood		 Cycle irregularity
at age 18–22		 Cycle irregularity
in adulthood
Follicular Estrogens − − − − −2
Luteal Estrogens − + + −
Androgens − + + + +
Progesterone + +2
SHBG3 +4 − − −
1

“-” indicates an inverse association and “+” indicates a positive association. Hormones for which no statistically significant associations were found are not listed in this table; including prolactin, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3.

2

Became statistically significant after exclusion of anovulatory (defined by plasma progesterone <=400 ng/dL) and irregular cycles (variation from cycle to cycle of greater than +/− 7 days), and cycles with blood samples collected on an extreme luteal day (calculated by date of the first day of the next menstrual period minus luteal blood draw date).

3

SHBG = sex hormone binding globulin

4

Statistically significant when not adjusted for body mass index at age 18 and in adulthood