Taffe John, Dennerstein Lorraine
Office for Gender and Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2002 Jul;81(7):588-94. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0412.2002.810703.x.
To identify problems arising in the analysis of menstrual diary data in a longitudinal study of the menopausal transition, and to propose solutions.
Menstrual diary information provided by 372 women over a period 7 years is the basis of the study. This paper considers the processes and decisions associated with transforming this information into a form suitable for answering research questions.
We decided to use 'cycle' as the unit of analysis and to regard spotting-only episodes as nonmenstrual bleeding. Difficulties in distinguishing between long cycles and gaps because of recording lapses are shown to be related to both the design of the menstrual diary cards and the procedures used by fieldworkers. A new design that should minimize such difficulties is presented. Procedural changes are also proposed.
It is important to minimize uncertainty about the meaning of gaps in menstrual diary data, especially in studies of the menopausal transition. Methodologic improvements that can help to achieve this aim include design of diary cards and fieldwork procedures to reduce uncertainty. The design of data entry interfaces to facilitate the checking of raw data and the use of graphs as a diagnostic tool are other important steps.
在一项绝经过渡纵向研究中，识别月经日记数据分析中出现的问题，并提出解决方案。
本研究以372名女性在7年期间提供的月经日记信息为基础。本文考虑了将这些信息转化为适合回答研究问题的形式所涉及的过程和决策。
我们决定以“周期”作为分析单位，并将仅出现点滴出血的情况视为非月经出血。因记录失误而难以区分长周期和月经间隔，这与月经日记卡的设计以及现场工作人员所采用的程序均有关。本文提出了一种新设计，该设计应能最大程度减少此类困难。同时还提出了程序上的改进措施。
尽量减少月经日记数据中月经间隔含义的不确定性非常重要，尤其是在绝经过渡研究中。有助于实现这一目标的方法学改进包括设计日记卡和现场工作程序以减少不确定性。设计数据录入界面以方便检查原始数据以及使用图表作为诊断工具也是其他重要步骤。
