Psychobiological Factors of Sexual Functioning in Aging Women - Findings From the Women 40+ Healthy Aging Study
Mernone et al.
The finding, in our words
In 93 healthy women aged 40–73 years, psychosocial factors predicted sexual functioning more strongly than hormone levels measured in saliva and dried blood spots, showing that decentralised microsampling can support hormone–behaviour research in older women without clinic visits.
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.
Allen et al., Drug and alcohol dependence reports (paywalled) · source ↗
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.
Olthof et al., Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
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.
Wang et al., The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology (paywalled) · source ↗
This study found that dried blood spot samples stored at room temperature for four years correlated highly with serum measurements for testosterone and androstenedione, indicating that hematocrit adjustment may be unnecessary for serial monitoring in home-based self-sampling.
Desai et al., The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology (paywalled) · source ↗
Finger-stick dried blood spots from 191 young women yielded anti-Müllerian hormone concentrations in the normal range (mean 5.66 ng/mL) and were deemed acceptable, with 81 per cent comfortable with collection and 88 per cent willing to repeat it. This supports feasibility of decentralised reproductive health studies, though validation against gold-standard measures remains necessary.
Hall et al., Frontiers in women's health (paywalled) · source ↗