The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Young Women's Health Study
Results from the Grollo Ruzzene Study of 6,896 women aged 18-39 years1
This Study was a community-based cross-sectional survey of women, aged 18 to 39 years, living in the eastern Australia states of Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. Recruitment was achieved using two large electronic data bases between 11 November 2016 and 21 July 2017. Emails invited women to participate in "a study of young women’s health" and linked interested women to the study information and consent form.
The final 6,986 participants were representative of Australian women of the same age in terms of their age and geographic distribution, occupation, education, country of birth and partnership status2.
Published outcomes
1 | Contraception 43% use a hormonal contraceptive2
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2 | 1/3rd of women have iron deficiency3
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3 | Depressive symptoms4
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4 | Sexual wellbeing5
THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHY SO MANY YOUNG WOMEN ARE DISTRESSED ABOUT THEIR SEX LIFE |
5 | The prevalence of PCOS remains uncertain7
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6 | Although not specific to PCOS, menstrual dysfunction is the only diagnostic component that can be formally designated as being 'abnormal', with the abnormality limited to cycle length.
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7 | We propose that the current approach to diagnose PCOS is resulting in too many young women being misdiagnosed and that there is an urgent need to review the criteria being used8,10 |
8 | Young women frequently stop menstruating because of subliminal stress. They don’t have the weight loss of anorexia, and are often misdiagnosed as having PCOS because an ultrasound of their ovaries shows lots of small follicles – but they don’t have PCOS. These women have Functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea (FHA) and they need treatment specific to this condition. Guideline for assessment and management of amenorrhoea (Medical J Australia)11 |
9 | An ever-diagnosis of endometriosis is associated with more sick days from work and poorer self-assessed work ability12 33.6% of women in the Grollo Ruzzene Study who had ever had endometriosis reported at least 10 sick days in last year compared with 13.5% of women without a diagnosis of endometriosis. Endometriosis was associated with a greater likelihood of poor to moderate work ability, after adjusting for age, body mass index, ethnicity, relationship status, student status, insecure housing, being a carer for another person, parity, ever use of assisted reproductive technologies, and depressed mood (odds ratio 1.90, 95%CI 1.40-2.58, P < 0.001). |
Published papers supporting these statements
- Skiba MA, Bell RJ, Islam RM, Davis SR. Challenges in recruitment to an epidemiological study of young Australian women: the Grollo-Ruzzene Foundation Young Women's Health Study. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2019 Apr;43(2):131-136. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12868.
- Skiba MA, Islam RM, Bell RJ, Davis SR. Hormonal contraceptive use in Australian women: Who is using what? Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2019 Oct;59(5):717-724. doi: 10.1111/ajo.13021. Epub 2019 Jun 27. PMID: 31250431.
- Islam RM, Bell RJ, Skiba MA, Trambas CM, Davis SR. Iron insufficiency among young Australian women: a population-based survey. Intern Med J. 2020 Apr;50(4):420-426. doi: 10.1111/imj.14397.
- Islam RM, Marsh L, Bell RJ, Skiba MA, Davis SR. Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms and Antidepressant Use in Young Australian Women: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021 Jul;30(7):997-1005. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2020.8318.
- Zheng J, Skiba MA, Bell RJ, Islam RM, Davis SR. The prevalence of sexual dysfunctions and sexually related distress in young women: a cross-sectional survey. Fertil Steril. 2020 Feb;113(2):426-434. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2019.09.027.
- Zheng J, Islam RM, Skiba MA, Bell RJ, Davis SR. Associations between androgens and sexual function in premenopausal women: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020 Aug;8(8):693-702. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30239-4.
- Skiba MA, Islam RM, Bell RJ, Davis SR. Understanding variation in prevalence estimates of polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod Update. 2018 Nov 1;24(6):694-709. doi: 10.1093/humupd/dmy022.
- Skiba MA, Bell RJ, Herbert D, Garcia AM, Islam RM, Davis SR. Use of community-based reference ranges to estimate the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome by the recognised diagnostic criteria, a cross-sectional study. Hum Reprod. 2021 May 17;36(6):1611-1620. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deab069.
- Islam RM, Bell RJ, Skiba MA, Davis SR. Testosterone and androstenedione are positively associated with anti-Müllerian hormone in premenopausal women. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2021 Nov;95(5):752-759. doi: 10.1111/cen.14592.
- Bell RJ, Islam RM, Skiba MA, Herbert D, Martinez Garcia A, Davis SR. Substituting serum anti-Müllerian hormone for polycystic ovary morphology increases the number of women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome: a community-based cross-sectional study. Hum Reprod. 2021 Dec 27;37(1):109-118. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deab232.
- Ng E, Sztal-Mazer S, Davis SR. Functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea: a diagnosis of exclusion. Med J Aust. 2022 Feb 7;216(2):73-76. doi: 10.5694/mja2.51376.
- Bell RJ, Robinson PJ, Skiba MA, Islam RM, Hemachandra C, Davis SR. The impact of endometriosis on work ability in young Australian women. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2023 Apr 26. doi: 10.1111/ajo.13683.