Life course epidemiology of women's reproductive health and its relation to chronic disease

生殖健康对妇女的整体健康和福祉很重要，人们越来越认识到，生殖健康是妇女今后可能患上其他疾病的标志。然而，我们对导致一些妇女生殖健康状况较差的原因的认识存在差距，例如，月经周期非常不规则，怀孕困难，或更年期前后出现潮热和盗汗。我建议填补这些空白。我将使用包括许多女性在内的几项大型研究的信息，其中一些研究收集了女性自子宫内或出生以来的信息。我将利用这些信息来了解是什么影响了她们的生殖激素水平，她们的月经模式，以及她们在成年早期怀孕的容易程度，以及她们患妊娠并发症的可能性。这一点很重要，因为造成生殖健康不良的一些原因是可以预防的。此外，越来越多的妇女在年龄较大的时候生孩子，我们必须了解是什么影响了妇女怀孕和健康怀孕的机会。我们对为什么生殖健康较差的妇女，包括妊娠并发症，如先兆子痫，更有可能在以后的生活中患上其他疾病，如心脏病的理解也存在差距。在这里，我也将使用对老年妇女的大型研究，以找出为什么一些生殖健康较差的妇女更容易患心脏病，糖尿病，乳腺癌和其他疾病。了解妇女生殖健康与其他疾病之间的关系很重要，因为它可能会发现潜在的新治疗方法。我还将评估妇女准确和容易记住的生殖健康信息是否可以用来准确预测她们以后患糖尿病、心脏病和骨病以及痴呆症的几率。这一点很重要，因为高风险的妇女可以得到降低风险的建议或治疗。

Reproductive health is important to a woman's overall health and well-being and is increasingly recognised as a marker for other diseases that she might experience later on in life. However there are gaps in our knowledge about what causes some women to have poorer reproductive health, for example, have highly irregular menstrual cycles, difficulties getting pregnant, or experience hot flashes and night sweats around menopause. I propose to answer these gaps. I will use information from several large studies that include many women, some of which have collected information on women since they were in the womb or since their birth. I will use this information to find out what affects their reproductive hormone levels, their menstrual patterns and how easy it is for them to get pregnant in early adulthood, and how likely they are to have complications of pregnancy. This is important as some of the causes of poor reproductive health may be preventable. Also, women are increasingly having children at older ages and it is important that we understand what affects women's chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy pregnancy. There are also gaps in our understanding of why women with poorer reproductive health, including complications of pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia, are more likely to have other diseases later in their life such as heart disease. Here too I will use large studies of older women, to find out why some women with poorer reproductive health are more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases later in life. Understanding the relationship between women's reproductive health and other diseases is important as it may identify potential new treatments. I will also assess whether information about reproductive health which women accurately and easily remember can be used to accurately predict their chances of having diabetes, heart and bone disease and dementia later in life. This is important as women at high risk can then be offered advice or treatment that will lower that risk.