REPRODUCTIVE FAILURE: MENTAL HEALTH EFFECTS IN WOMEN

申请的是ADAMHA颁发的研究科学家发展奖，I级 研究女性生殖障碍对心理健康的影响。 广泛 建议在三个一般领域进行培训-性类固醇对 大脑和行为;研究患者的临床表现， 各种内分泌疾病，包括青春期衰竭， 不孕症和雌激素缺乏症;以及 跨学科研究（设计，评估方法和数据分析） 有生殖障碍的女性的行为表现。 的 这些领域中的第一个将通过在精神内分泌学工作来覆盖 纽约州精神病研究所的研究单位，由博士。 安科A. Ehrhardt和Heino F.L.迈耶-巴尔堡 它将包括 参加两项研究-一项是关于长期的心理健康影响， 产前己烯雌酚（DES）暴露和性唤起， 同性恋和异性恋女性的类固醇激素水平。 第二 主要领域将包括性问题专家委员会的培训 激素、临床内分泌学和不孕症。 第三大领域 包括研究设计培训，测量开发， 统计专家在方法论。 一个初步的研究项目是 描述了将集中在青春期延迟的心理健康影响， Turner综合征成年女性的生长迟缓和不孕症。 来自本研究以及上述培训的信息 将用于第二个研究项目， 不孕症对不同生育年龄妇女的影响 失败（包括特纳综合征，睾丸女性化，暴露于 产前己烯雌酚，和不孕症由于解剖 生殖道异常）。 这些研究将评估 第一次系统地研究了特定的 生殖失败的综合征，并将有助于澄清一些具体的 女性精神障碍的病因学机制。 结果 将填补目前临床知识的空白，并将使其成为可能， 制定预防和治疗精神健康的临床策略 妇女保健系统的问题。

Requested is a Research Scientist Development Award, Level I, from ADAMHA to study mental health effects of reproductive failure in women. Broad training is proposed in three general areas -- effects of sex steroids on brain and behavior; the study of clinical manifestations of patients with a variety of endocrinological disorders, including pubertal failure, infertility and estrogen deficiency; and the methodology of interdisciplinary research (design, assessment methods, and data analysis) on behavioral manifestations of women with reproductive disorders. The first of these areas will be covered by working in the Psychoendocrinology Research Unit at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, directd by Drs. Anke A. Ehrhardt and Heino F.L. Meyer-Bahlburg. It will include participation in two studies -- one on long-term mental health effects of prenatal diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure and one on sexual arousal and steroid hormone levels in homosexual and heterosexual women. The second main area will involve training from a committee of experts on sex hormones, clinical endocrinology, and infertility. The third main area consists of training in research design, measure development, and statistics by experts in methodology. A preliminary research project is described which will focus on mental health effects of delayed puberty, growth retardation and infertility in adult women with Turner syndrome. Information from this study as well as from the training described above will be used in a second research project forcusing on mental health effects of infertility in different groups of women with reproductive failure (including Turner syndrome, testicular feminization, exposure to prenatal diethylstilbestrol, and infertility due to anatomical abnormalities of the reproductive tract). These studies will assess systematically for the first time the mental health effects of specific syndromes of reproductive failure and will help to clarify some specific mechanisms in the etiology of p]sychiatric disorders in women. The results will fill a gap in current clinical knowledge and will make it possible to devise clinical strategies in the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in the health care system for women.