Practice Note: ‘If Only All Women Menstruated Exactly Two Weeks Ago’: Interdisciplinary Challenges and Experiences of Capturing Hormonal Variation Across the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Houghton and Elhadad offer a new and needed perspective on approaches for measuring the menstrual cycle and identifying underlying hormonal profiles that can help determine risk factors for chronic diseases such as breast cancer and endometriosis. The authors discuss methods that have been applied historically and how those have shown vast variation in menstrual cycle characteristics around the globe. They then review and explore how innovation in technologies can be used to detect and disseminate new menstrual cycle knowledge. Additionally, the authors show how interdisciplinary efforts across anthropology, public health, and data science can leverage the advances in mobile menstrual tracking and hormone measurement to better characterize the menstrual cycle at the population level. This analysis concludes with a breakdown of how personalized menstrual norms and predictions can help individuals to be better stewards of their own menstrual health.