Conditions at conception and risk of menstrual disorders.

In a case-control study, we evaluated the association of the risk of menstrual disorders with four periconceptional factors: short preceding interpregnancy interval ( 42 or <21 days, or a variation of ^14 days between cycles, or amenorrhea, N = 294), controls (with cycles within a range o{ 25-35 days and variation <7 days, N = 520), and intermediates (N = 105). A self-administrable questionnaire was mailed, asking for infor? mation about maternal reproductive history and age, and po? tential confounders such as smoking, exercise, and level of education. Response (77%) differed little among cases, intermediates, and controls. We found elevated risks for short pregnancy intervals [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.04; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04-4.02] and advanced maternal age (OR = 3.24; 95% CI = 1.27-8.30) but not for low maternal age (OR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.11-3.14) (cases vs controls). We found similar effects for intermediates vs con? trols. The distribution of month of conception did not differ much from controls for both cases and intermediates. The results indicate that conception after short pregnancy intervals or at advanced maternal age increases the risk o{ menstrual disorders in daughters. The precise etiology is unclear, but it may lie in the quality of the oocyte at conception. (Epidemiology 1997;8:524-529)