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June 30, 2010
Welcome to the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research newsletter! We hope this newsletter will keep you informed of what's new in women's health research here at CeMCOR.
In today's edition:
Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research at Eight— 2010 CeMCOR Anniversary Celebration by Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior, Scientific Director, Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research. CeMCOR started with an idea—ovulation and progesterone are extremely important, although neglected. That notion has grown into a vibrant, virtual organization that has, for the first time, shown that oral micronized progesterone (Prometrium®) is safe and effective treatment for hot flushes and night sweats in healthy menopausal women (1). We have also just obtained Canadian Institute of Health Research support to do a similar randomized controlled trial of Prometrium® for Perimenopausal Night Sweats. Many causes for celebration!
Before 2002 I was a single physician doing research with various others investigators from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU). I dreamed that by formally working with others we could reach out to share what we learn with women everywhere, and be more effective in accomplishing key scientific studies.
When the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR) was founded in May of 2002, our vision was “To reframe scientific knowledge of the menstrual cycle and ovulation in a woman-centred context.” Over the last eight years, CeMCOR has made major progress in showing that progesterone as well as estrogen is important, not just for women’s fertility and reproduction, but also for general health and well being throughout women’s entire lifecycle. This is the only research centre, anywhere in the world, with a research focus on ovulation and that studies the physical and emotional-social causes and effects of ovulation disturbances on women’s overall health.
Major Achievements
- CeMCOR completed the first randomized, controlled trial in 2009 showing that oral micronized progesterone (Prometrium®) is highly effective treatment for hot flushes/night sweats in 133 healthy early menopausal women (1). In 2010, this research was chosen by The Endocrine Society, one of about 12 presentations out of over 6,000, to highlight in a press conference. This achievement is even more remarkable because it was accomplished with individual, private donations to CeMCOR.
- The Estrogen Errors—Why Progesterone is Better for Women’s Health written by Susan Baxter, PhD (Vancouver medical writer and lecturer at SFU) and Jerilynn C. Prior MD was published in 2009 by Praeger Press, a major USA library publisher (2). This book emphasizes the major error in thinking that estrogen is women’s only important female hormone while ignoring progesterone. The Estrogen Errors has been acclaimed by Dr. Susan Love, breast cancer researcher, author and health advocate, Christianne Northrup, popular women’s health educator and author, and Judy Norsigian, Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves, Boston’s historic women’s health book collective (visit www.estrogenerrors.com).
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in 2010 awarded CeMCOR scientists a 4-year major operating grant to conduct a randomized controlled trial of Prometrium® for perimenopausal hot flushes/night sweats. This will be the first trial of a potential hot flush treatment that focuses solely on women who are in this important midlife reproductive transition.
Click here to continue reading about CeMCOR's scientific publications, research funding, and other successes over the last 8 years.... Or, click here to access the full article as a PDF
Research News
This month (June), CeMCOR researchers Jerilynn Prior and Christine Hitchcock attended the Endocrine Society meetings and presented the results of our research study showing that progesterone is an effective therapy for hot flushes and night sweats in women who no longer menstruate. Women in the study took 3 pills each evening, either 300 mg (3 100 mg pills) or an identical placebo, for 12 weeks. Using a score that integrates both the number and intensity of hot flushes and night sweats, we found 56% improvement in those randomized to progesterone as compared with 28% in those randomized to placebo. The funds to support this work came entirely from the generous donations of individual CeMCOR supporters, and could not have been accomplished without the time and energy of just over 175 women who enrolled as study participants. Thank you for your support! We are delighted to have the data, and will be submitting the results of this study for publication over the summer.
And we have grant funds to test it in perimenopause!
On the strength of these results, we have obtained a research grant from CIHR, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, to conduct a similar research trial in perimenopausal women who have hot flushes and night sweats while they are still menstruating. Perimenopausal women are badly in need of evidence-based therapies; we are very pleased to be able to do this work. It will take us about 6 months to set up the trial; we plan to begin recruitment at the end of the year. Look for the study ads on our web page.
Too young for night sweats?
Thank you to
everyone who helped spread the word about our Perimenopausal Night
Sweats study! We recently met our recruitment goal and are no longer
enrolling new participants. We look forward to analyzing the data once
the last few participants are complete in the hopes of learning more
about night sweats in women who are still menstruating. If you're disappointed to have missed this opportunity to join our study, look for our upcoming perimenopausal therapy study at the end of this year!
Upcoming study: Healthy women needed to act as controls
In July 2010, CeMCOR will open recruitment for healthy women to act as controls in a study of the role of genetics in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. In order to join the study, you need to be a woman between age 19-40 with regular menstrual cycles and no clinical signs of androgen excess. When available, study recruitment information will be posted on the CeMCOR homepage.
NOW AVAILABLE:
 Looking for an interesting, informative, and thought- provoking book to add to your summer reading list? In The Estrogen Errors, Dr. Jerilynn Prior teams up with Susan Baxter, a medical writer, to explain the controversy over medicine prescribing estrogen for perimenopausal women in the US, and to detail why progesterone is actually a far more effective, and a far less risk-ridden, approach. Citing long-standing and emerging research, patient vignettes, and personal experience, endocrinologist Jerilynn Prior and writer Susan Baxter tell us how false beliefs on estrogen became entrenched in U.S. medicine and culture, and why business and politics have played a role in this erroneous thinking.
How to order:
You can order your copy at your favourite online retailer, including Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Barnes and Noble.com. A portion of all proceeds from the sale of The Estrogen Errors will be donated to the CeMCOR Endowment Fund.
Or visit your local bookseller and request a copy using the following ISBN number: 978-0-313-35398-7 If you have trouble finding the book, please call our office at 604-875-5927 and we will be happy to help.
Have you read The Estrogen Errors? If so, please help spread the word by posting your review on Amazon!
Women's Health in the news
Listen online - Seeing Red: A Cultural History of Menstruation - CBC Ideas podcast - June 14, 2010 Hysterectomy rates falling: report - CBC News - May 27, 2010 VIDEO: The Agenda with Steve Paikin: The Pill at 50 - TV Ontario - May 25, 2010. To
mark the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, Dr. Jerilynn Prior
joins a panel discussion of the cultural and medical significance of
the Pill.
She's Hooked: Allure of Vices Tied to a Woman's Monthly Cycle - Scientific American - May 2010. See also: Dr. Jerilynn Prior's response to this article
Women who experience domestic violence may have higher health-care costs even after abuse ends - WomensHealthMatters.ca - April 29, 2010
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