The Women's Health Database

www.womenshealthdatabase.org

A searchable, filterable overview of women's-health cohort studies: what each cohort collects, what its summary statistics are, how specifically it classifies hysterectomy/oophorectomy-related items, and where in the world it is based.

About the WHD

A curated, searchable catalog of women's health variables across major cohort studies worldwide.

Women's health variables are critical to understanding health and aging, yet what is measured — and how it is measured — varies substantially across cohorts. The Women's Health Database catalogs variables collected in 30 major cohorts across 11 domains of women's health, spanning menstrual and reproductive history, gynecologic conditions and surgeries, pregnancy and fertility, menopause, hormone therapy, and linked cognitive, imaging, biological, and health-record data.

Our goal is to make it easier to find the right data, understand what those data can tell us, and improve how women's health is measured in future research.

30 Cohorts
11 Domains

Explore the Database

Use the database to identify cohorts with the measures needed for your research, compare ascertainment across studies, and evaluate the strength and limitations of the inferences that the data can support.

Citing This Database

APA
Eich, T., Yoon, D., Hulscher, M., Capaldi, J. M., Belkind, D., & Naveen, R. (2026, September 4). The Women's Health Database. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4KZUE

Current Release

Release 1.0 — September 2026

The Women's Health Database is a living, curated resource. New cohorts, variables, and corrections are incorporated into periodic releases.

Hysterectomy Inference Framework

Our first application of the Women's Health Database focuses on hysterectomy and oophorectomy. We developed a five-type framework that characterizes the inferences about hysterectomy and ovarian status that can be supported by the information available in each cohort (Author et al., in preparation).

Tip

Cohort info alongside a breakdown of each cohort's Reproductive Surgical History questions -- the same distinctions behind each cohort's Hysterectomy Inference Types classification. Columns with no data collected yet are left blank rather than marked "No". Click any row to see more information on that cohort; click a column header to sort.

Export
Table size 100%

Cohort Map

Tip

Hover over a marker to preview that cohort; click it for full details. Marker size reflects sample size (N), and marker color corresponds to the Hysterectomy Inference Types defined above and shown in the key below. Markers are placed using each cohort's participant location where one is clearly listed, falling back to the study's PI/site location when the participant location is missing,"Nationwide," or lists more than one place — see "Mapped to" in each marker's tooltip.

Hysterectomy Inference Type: Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Type 5

Rotate phone to view:

Women's Health Data Inventory cannot be viewed vertically on mobile devices. Please turn your phone horizontally, or switch to a device with a larger screen, to view this tab.

Tip

Export
Table size 100%

Cohorts

Domains

Checklist Items

Items Reference

Every variable the WHD tracks, grouped into the same 11 domains used throughout the site. This page doesn't show any cohort data itself — it's a glossary of what each variable means. Click a domain to expand it.

These same domains, and the individual items that make each of them up, can be filtered directly in — check a domain there to see it as a single rollup column, or drill into its specific items to see which cohorts actually collect each one.

1. Menstrual History
  • Age at menarche
  • Menstrual cycle / bleeding pattern
    • Cycle regularity
    • Cycle length in days
    • Change in cycle length
    • Skipped cycles
    • Time since last period
    • Length of time without a period (amenorrhea)
    • Bleeding flow / amount
    • Abnormal vaginal bleeding — bleeding from the vagina that is different enough from a normal pattern to be a concern: irregular, heavy, or long in duration
2. Reproductive Surgical History
  • Is there a question directly asking about hysterectomy?
  • Is there a question directly asking about oophorectomy?
    • If oophorectomy is asked about: does it distinguish unilateral vs. bilateral (laterality)?
  • Does it distinguish hysterectomy type (supracervical / total / radical)?
  • Is age at surgery recorded?
  • Is indication of surgery recorded (e.g., cancer, benign condition)?
  • Is surgery captured at baseline only?
  • Was intact uterine and/or ovarian status used as an enrollment eligibility criterion?
3. Gynecologic Conditions
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) / Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS)
  • Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI)
  • Endometriosis
  • Pelvic prolapse or relaxation
  • Pelvic cancer (cancer of the vulva, cervix, uterus, or ovaries)
  • Fibroids (benign growths in the uterus or womb)
4. Contraception
  • Ever used a method to prevent pregnancy
    • Type of method used
    • Primary reason for taking birth control pills
    • When started
    • Duration of use
5. Pregnancy & Obstetric History
  • Ever pregnant
    • Number of pregnancies
    • Age at pregnancies
    • Outcome of pregnancy (e.g., live birth, still birth, miscarriage, etc.)
    • Number of live births
    • Sex of live births
    • Complications of pregnancy — e.g. gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, eclampsia, placenta previa, anemia, depression or anxiety, postpartum depression
    • Breastfeeding
    • Timing of breastfeeding
6. Fertility Treatment
  • Fertility medications used to help get pregnant
    • Type of fertility medication used
7. Menopause Status & Timing
  • Menopausal status
  • Age at menopause
  • Age at final menstrual period
8. Menopause Symptoms
  • Menopause-related symptoms (overall)
  • Vasomotor symptoms
    • Vasomotor symptoms (overall)
    • Hot flashes
    • Night sweats
  • Sleep symptoms
    • Sleep symptoms (overall)
    • Difficulty getting to sleep
    • Difficulty staying asleep
    • Nighttime awakening
  • Somatic symptoms
    • Somatic symptoms (overall)
    • Heart palpitations
    • Skin itching
    • Headaches
    • Bloated stomach
    • Breast tenderness
    • Joint pains
  • Mood symptoms
    • Mood symptoms (overall)
    • Tiredness
    • Irritability
    • Feeling anxious
    • Feeling depressed
    • Mood swings
    • Crying spells
  • Cognitive symptoms
    • Cognitive symptoms (overall)
    • Difficulty concentrating
    • Poor memory
  • Genitourinary symptoms
    • Genitourinary symptoms (overall)
    • Frequent urination
    • Urine leakage
    • Painful urination
    • Bladder infection
    • Stool or gas
    • Dry vagina
    • Vaginal itching
    • Abnormal vaginal discharge
    • Vaginal infection
    • Pain during intercourse
    • Pain inside vagina during intercourse
    • Bleeding after intercourse
  • Sexual/libido symptoms
    • Sexual/libido symptoms (overall)
    • Lack of sexual desire
    • Orgasm difficulty
    • Limited sexual opportunity
  • Symptom detail
    • Severity of symptom
    • Time frame of symptom
9. Perceptions of Menopause
  • Knowledge of menopause (e.g., self-rated knowledge about menopause)
  • Views or perceptions (positive or negative) of menopause
  • Sources of knowledge about menopause
10. Hormone Therapy (HT) Use
  • Hormone therapy use
    • Frequency or duration of use
    • Start / stop age
    • Type
    • Reasons why women start taking hormones (not including birth control pills)
  • Knowledge, views & sources — HT
    • Knowledge of HT (e.g., self-rated knowledge about HT)
    • Views or perceptions (positive or negative) of HT
    • Sources of knowledge about HT
11. Cognitive / Imaging / Biological / Health Record Linked Data
  • Sex hormones
  • Other biomarkers
  • Health records linked
  • Cognitive testing
  • Neuroimaging variables (MRI, fMRI, PET would be most common)
  • Other — any other relevant variables available in a cohort
How to use this

Build one or more conditions below — for example, "Sample Size (N) is greater than 1000", "Age Range includes age 50", or "Hot flashes item is Yes". Then choose whether a cohort needs to match all of your conditions (AND) or any of them (OR) using the dropdown. The table updates instantly as you add, edit, or remove conditions, so it's a quick way to answer questions like "which cohorts are publicly available and include a hysterectomy question?" without digging through the raw spreadsheet. Hysterectomy Inference Types is also available as a condition field -- add it to color-code matching rows by type, with a key above the table.

Opens directly to this exact match-mode and conditions, already applied.
Export
Table size 100%

Contribute a Cohort

Help grow the Women's Health Database with your cohort's data.

Is there a women's health cohort study that you would like to see included on this database? Please complete the contributor form below to submit its information!

The WHD is a living catalog — we rely on the contributions of researchers like you to continue growing. If your study measures any of the domains cataloged on this site, we'd like to hear from you.

How to Contribute

  1. Skim the glossary and the to see the 11 domains and specific variables the WHD tracks.
  2. Gather whatever documentation describes your cohort's women's-health measures — a study protocol, codebook, survey instrument, or publication — so you can answer the form accurately.
  3. Complete the contributor form below in its entirety. Be sure to read all instructions fully and carefully follow all submission guidelines.
  4. The WHD team only reviews complete submissions, and may follow up if anything needs clarification before a cohort is added to the catalog.

Who Should Contribute

Any completed or ongoing cohort study that collects women's-health data is welcome — regardless of size or region.

Your cohort doesn't need to cover every domain. Partial coverage is still useful to other researchers, and the catalog entry will simply reflect what your cohort does and doesn't collect.

Before You Submit

Please read the following brief overview. For more information regarding our release agreement, please see the full release form found at the beginning of the contributor form linked below.

  1. The information you provide about your cohort study's variables will be published publicly in the Women's Health Database (WHD).
  2. Your cohort/study will be identified by name in the catalog entry associated with your submission.

  3. You confirm that the information submitted accurately reflects your cohort's data collection to the best of your knowledge. The WHD team is not responsible for errors arising from inaccurate or outdated submissions.

    If your cohort's variables change, or you would like to update your entry, please resubmit this form or contact us directly.

    You may withdraw your cohort's entry from the catalog at any time by sending written notice to Teal Eich at teich@usc.edu.

Ready to Contribute?

Complete the contributor form to add a cohort to the Women's Health Database, or to submit updates to a cohort already listed.

Open the Contributor Form

Submission of a contributor form does not guarantee inclusion. Only complete forms will be reviewed. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.