{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T22:07:06Z","timestamp":1790028426679,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,31]],"date-time":"2025-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743379200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Glob. Women\u2019s Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The susceptibility to acute mountain sickness (AMS) in relation to sexual hormones in women remains elusive, partly because hormones could not be conveniently measured. We evaluated a novel kit for self-monitoring sexual hormones in women and recorded AMS incidence during high-altitude sojourns.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Two groups of healthy, premenopausal women, mean\u2009\u00b1\u2009SD age 23.1\u2009\u00b1\u20092.3 years, residing &amp;lt;1,000\u2005m underwent baseline evaluations at 760\u2005m before travelling to and staying for 2 days and nights (48\u2005h) at 3,100\u2005m or 3,600\u2005m, respectively. Participants self-monitored morning urine sexual hormone concentrations (estrone-1-glucuronide, E1G, pregnanediol-3-alpha-glucuronide, PdG, and luteinizing hormone, LH) daily for 30d including altitude sojourns using the simple \u201c\n                      <jats:italic>Proov<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u201d kit (MFB Fertility Inc). Follicular and luteal menstrual cycle phases detected by LH peak, altitude-related adverse health effects (ARAHE), AMS [Lake Louise score 2018 (LLS)\u2009\u2265\u20093 points including headache] and pulse oximetry (SpO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      ) were assessed.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      1,172 of 1,250 (93.8%) hormone measurements were successful, 78 of 1,250 (6.2%) failed due to nonadherence or technical failure. At 3,600\u2005m, mean differences in urinary PdG concentration were 3.8\u2005mcg\/ml (95% CI, 0.6\u20137.1) between luteal and follicular cycle phases. At 3,100\u2005m, corresponding difference was 8.5\u2005mcg\/ml (95% CI, 5.0\u201312.0). At 3,100\u2005m, 9 of 21 (43%) women were diagnosed with AMS with SpO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      of 93.0\u2009\u00b1\u20091.6% and LLS of 0.3\u2009\u00b1\u20091.4 in the morning after the first night. At 3,600\u2005m, 12 of 21 (57%) women had AMS (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.355 vs. 3,100\u2005m) with SpO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      of 86.8\u2009\u00b1\u20091.8% (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.05 vs. 3,100\u2005m) and LLS of 1.9\u2009\u00b1\u20091.4 (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.05 vs. 3,100\u2005m).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Self-monitoring female sexual hormones during high-altitude field studies with the employed kit is feasible and provides physiologically plausible trends of hormone levels over the menstrual cycle. Our data provide a valuable basis for designing further studies to evaluate AMS susceptibility in women.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fgwh.2025.1544832","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,31]],"date-time":"2025-03-31T01:44:58Z","timestamp":1743385498000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Monitoring sexual hormones in women going to high altitude\u2014a pilot 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