Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 54, Issue 4 B160-B170, Copyright © 1999 by The Gerontological Society of America

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of HEALTH WATCH data with a subset of perimenopausal women and matched controls

DD Peterson and RM Schmidt
HEALTH WATCH, Center for Preventive Medicine and Health Research, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco 94111-2303, USA. [email protected]

HEALTH WATCH is a longitudinal prospective study of healthy aging. This study began in 1970. It characterizes the biochemical, hematological, immunological, and physiological data of 2200 healthy men and women between the ages of 20 and 80. Well-being, stress, and sleep data are obtained annually as a self-administered HEALTH WATCH questionnaire. A subset of women from the HEALTH WATCH cohort who were actively followed in the 1970s and had perimenopausal years available was selected. This subset allows observation of the normal female aging related to the significant marker, cessation of menses. Critical selection criterion included a natural menopause and the absence of hormonal intervention. Computer selection identified 19 subjects. Three sets of matched, age- defined controls were selected. This study investigates changes of data from healthy women related to menopause status. Changes unique to perimenopause status include sleep, sex difficulties, alkaline phosphatase, phosphorous, and thyroxine.

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