The University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute (RRI) will lead this research. The RRI is a collective of internationally renowned researchers in human reproduction, pregnancy, and child health. RRI focuses on the early stages of life to improve the health and well-being of children and families over the course of life, and across generations, in Australia and around the world.
This research aims to describe the demographic, lifestyle and menstrual cycle characteristics among a global cohort of women, assessing differences across age, BMI, and ethnicity.
“At the start of our project, we were surprised to find out that women's health, particularly the menstrual cycle, is an area poorly studied in a large cohort of women. Most studies were conducted on small sample sizes; hence, they often don’t show the real picture. With our resources combined, we can bring the research in this field to a whole new level. We hope that our collaboration will help doctors and scientists better understand women's health and improve the way they interact with patients”, said Anna Klepchukova, Chief Science Officer of Flo.
"There is a surprising lack of current data characterizing menstrual cycle length in healthy women and the potential differences across demographic and lifestyle variables. Our study will provide extensive, worldwide evidence, on the characteristics of women and their menstrual cycle length and patterns, and will be the largest study to report on the influence of ethnicity on menstrual cycle length,” said Dr Jessica Grieger, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Robinson Research Institute, and project author.
“This information is necessary to support the updating of current clinical guidelines around menstrual cycle length and patterns for clinical use in fertility programs”, explained Dr Grieger.
The results of the project will be published by the end of 2019.