The InterLACE study: design, data harmonization and characteristics across 20 studies on women's health

The International Collaboration for a Life Course Approach to Reproductive Health and Chronic Disease Events (InterLACE) project is a global research collaboration that aims to advance understanding of women's reproductive health in relation to chronic disease risk by pooling individual participant data from several cohort and cross-sectional studies. The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of contributing studies and to present the distribution of demographic and reproductive factors and chronic disease outcomes in InterLACE

Additional file 1: Table S1. of The role of smoking in the relationship between intimate partner violence and age at natural menopause: a mediation analysis

Characteristics of excluded and included women. (DOCX 14 kb

Additional file 2: Table S2. of The role of smoking in the relationship between intimate partner violence and age at natural menopause: a mediation analysis

Characteristics of women according to age at natural menopause (n = 6138). (DOCX 15 kb

Infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and risk of stroke: pooled analysis of individual patient data of 618 851 women

Objective  To examine the associations of infertility, recurrent miscarriage, and stillbirth with the risk of first non-fatal and fatal stroke, further stratified by stroke subtypes.  Design  Individual participant pooled analysis of eight prospective cohort studies.  Setting  Cohort studies across seven countries (Australia, China, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) participating in the InterLACE (International Collaboration for a Life Course Approach to Reproductive Health and Chronic Disease Events) consortium, which was established in June 2012.  Participants  618 851 women aged 32.0-73.0 years at baseline with data on infertility, miscarriage, or stillbirth, at least one outcome event (non-fatal or fatal stroke), and information on covariates were included; 93 119 women were excluded. Of the participants, 275 863 had data on non-fatal and fatal stroke, 54 716 only had data on non-fatal stroke, and 288 272 only had data on fatal stroke.  Main outcome and measures  Non-fatal strokes were identified through self-reported questionnaires, linked hospital data, or national patient registers. Fatal strokes were identified through death registry data.  Results  The median follow-up for non-fatal stroke and fatal stroke was 13.0 years (interquartile range 12.0-14.0) and 9.4 years (7.6-13.0), respectively. A first non-fatal stroke was experienced by 9265 (2.8%) women and 4003 (0.7%) experienced a fatal stroke. Hazard ratios for non-fatal or fatal stroke were stratified by hypertension and adjusted for race or ethnicity, body mass index, smoking status, education level, and study. Infertility was associated with an increased risk of non-fatal stroke (hazard ratio 1.14, 95% confidence interval 1.08 to 1.20). Recurrent miscarriage (at least three) was associated with higher risk of non-fatal and fatal stroke (1.35, 1.27 to 1.44, and 1.82, 1.58 to 2.10, respectively). Women with stillbirth were at 31% higher risk of non-fatal stroke (1.31, 1.10 to 1.57) and women with recurrent stillbirth were at 26% higher risk of fatal stroke (1.26, 1.15 to 1.39). The increased risk of stroke (non-fatal or fatal) associated with infertility or recurrent stillbirths was mainly driven by a single stroke subtype (non-fatal ischaemic stroke and fatal haemorrhagic stroke), while the increased risk of stroke (non-fatal or fatal) associated with recurrent miscarriages was driven by both subtypes.  Conclusion  A history of recurrent miscarriages and death or loss of a baby before or during birth could be considered a female specific risk factor for stroke, with differences in risk according to stroke subtypes. These findings could contribute to improved monitoring and stroke prevention for women with such a history.</p

Ethnic differences in the association between age at natural menopause and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among postmenopausal women: a pooled analysis of individual data from 13 cohort studies

Objective: To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; natural menopause before 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and identify any variations by ethnicity. Research design and methods: We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2DM before menopause, with six ethnic groups: White (n=177,674), Chinese (n=146,008), Japanese (n=9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n=2,228), Black (n=1,838), and Mixed/Other (n=1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2DM associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI. Results: Over nine years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2DM. Overall, POI (vs menopause at 50-51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2DM (HR:1.31, 1.20-1.44), while there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (p Conclusions: POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2DM in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2DM among women.</p

Ethnic differences in the association between age at natural menopause and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among postmenopausal women: a pooled analysis of individual data from 13 cohort studies

Objective: To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; natural menopause before 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and identify any variations by ethnicity.Research design and methods: We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2DM before menopause, with six ethnic groups: White (n=177,674), Chinese (n=146,008), Japanese (n=9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n=2,228), Black (n=1,838), and Mixed/Other (n=1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2DM associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI.Results: Over nine years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2DM. Overall, POI (vs menopause at 50-51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2DM (HR:1.31, 1.20-1.44), while there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (pConclusions: POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2DM in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2DM among women.</p

Ethnic differences in the association between age at natural menopause and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among postmenopausal women: a pooled analysis of individual data from 13 cohort studies

Objective: To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; natural menopause before 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and identify any variations by ethnicity. Research design and methods: We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2DM before menopause, with six ethnic groups: White (n=177,674), Chinese (n=146,008), Japanese (n=9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n=2,228), Black (n=1,838), and Mixed/Other (n=1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2DM associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI. Results: Over nine years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2DM. Overall, POI (vs menopause at 50-51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2DM (HR:1.31, 1.20-1.44), while there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (p Conclusions: POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2DM in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2DM among women.</p

Supplementary information files for Ethnic differences in the association between age at natural menopause and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among postmenopausal women: a pooled analysis of individual data from 13 cohort studies

Supplementary files for article Ethnic differences in the association between age at natural menopause and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among postmenopausal women: a pooled analysis of individual data from 13 cohort studiesObjective: To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; natural menopause before 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and identify any variations by ethnicity.Research design and methods: We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2DM before menopause, with six ethnic groups: White (n=177,674), Chinese (n=146,008), Japanese (n=9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n=2,228), Black (n=1,838), and Mixed/Other (n=1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2DM associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI.Results: Over nine years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2DM. Overall, POI (vs menopause at 50-51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2DM (HR:1.31, 1.20-1.44), while there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (pConclusions: POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2DM in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2DM among women.</p