2021 · The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · paywalled
Beyond Premature Ovarian Insufficiency: Staging Reproductive Aging in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors
Medica et al.
The finding, in our words
Dried blood spot measurements of antimüllerian hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone helped to stage reproductive ageing in adolescent and young adult cancer survivors, though 29 per cent could not be classified by STRAW+10 criteria, particularly within two years of gonadotoxic treatment. The study suggests that bleeding pattern alone may misclassify survivors and that modified staging criteria are needed for this population.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
In a study of 46 perinatal nicotine users, dried blood spots and saliva were used weekly to measure reproductive hormones, finding that lower postpartum estradiol and greater peripartum declines in oxytocin were associated with increased nicotine craving and use. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised microsampling and remote surveys for longitudinal hormone tracking in vulnerable populations.
Home DBS sampling gave testosterone results that agreed well with venous blood in men on intramuscular testosterone undecanoate, but showed falsely high values in those using topical gel, likely from skin contamination. Patients preferred home collection for its convenience, suggesting DBS is viable for decentralised monitoring of injectable testosterone if patients are taught proper technique.
Capillary dried blood spots yielded reference ranges for testosterone, androstenedione, 17α hydroxyprogesterone and progesterone in healthy premenopausal women, with lower concentrations in users of systemic hormonal contraceptives and cycle-related variation for 17OHP and P4. These ranges enable screening for disorders of sex development using less invasive microsampling.
A study of 152 women found that HbA1c and reproductive hormone levels from menstrual blood collected via a modified pad highly correlated with venous blood, supporting its use as a decentralised surrogate, though interassay variability was noted.
A four-item questionnaire for menstrual phase identification, validated against progesterone in dried blood spots, achieved 92.1 per cent accuracy with less restrictive scoring, substantially better than self-reported onset of menses alone (60.2 per cent). This tool could enable accurate phase determination in decentralised research and low-resource settings without intensive clinical assessment.