What this means
Although the menstrual cycle is a vital sign for women's health, research investigating menstrual cycle length (MCL) trajectories across reproductive life is scarce, often categorizing just two patterns: regular and irregular. We used latent class mixed models (LCMMs) to identify MCL trajectories among 9,332 females enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study, a United States prospective cohort followed from 1996-2023.
A plain-English summary is on its way. Until then, this is the start of the authors' own summary.
- Who it was tested in
- Not stated
- Kind of research
- A study
The science
- Original title
- Menstrual cycle length trajectories and their health correlates across the reproductive lifespan.
- Authors
- Mitsunami M, Peebles E, Zhang B et al.
- Journal
- Research square
- Published
- Oct 24, 2026
- Study type
- Study
- PMID
- 42922644 ↗
Abstract
Although the menstrual cycle is a vital sign for women's health, research investigating menstrual cycle length (MCL) trajectories across reproductive life is scarce, often categorizing just two patterns: regular and irregular. We used latent class mixed models (LCMMs) to identify MCL trajectories among 9,332 females enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study, a United States prospective cohort followed from 1996-2023. Participants who self-reported their MCL three or more times were included in the analysis. Additional demographic and health information collected from surveys were included in the descriptive statistics, stratified by trajectory classification. The best fitting LCMM identified four MCL trajectories: "always regular" (94.2% of study population), "early long transition" (2.5%), "late long transition" (3.0%), and "long to short transition" (0.2%). Those classified in the "early long transition" trajectory had a higher proportion of adulthood obesity and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS); "late long transition" individuals had higher proportions of childhood and adulthood obesity, hirsutism, severe acne in adolescence, PMOS, hypothyroidism, hypertension, and endometriosis. The identified MCL trajectories serve as a proof of concept for identifying menstrual irregularity as a signal of disease markers warranting clinical evaluation, though further validation is needed before clinical application.
Mitsunami M, Peebles E, Zhang B et al. Menstrual cycle length trajectories and their health correlates across the reproductive lifespan. Research square. 2026. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10629991/v1. PMID: 42922644. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42922644/