For high school girls, link also seen between total suspended particulate in air, time to cycle regularity
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 31, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to air pollution during high school is associated with a slightly higher likelihood of menstrual irregularity and longer time to regularity, according to a study published online Jan. 25 in Human Reproduction.
Shruthi Mahalingaiah, M.D., from Boston University, and colleagues assessed data from 34,832 participants enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II to investigate the association between perimenarchal exposure to total suspended particulate (TSP) in air and menstrual irregularity.
The researchers found that for every 45 μg/m3 increase in average high school TSP, there was an increased odds for moderate irregularity (1.08; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.14), persistent irregularity (1.08; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.15), and persistent with androgen excess irregularity (1.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.25). There was also an association between TSP and a longer time to cycle regularity. Results were stronger among women with older ages at menarche and those living in the Northeast or the West.
“Temporal exposure to air pollution in the adolescent and early adulthood window may be especially important, given its association with phenotypes of menstrual irregularity,” the authors write.
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