Based on prospective tracking of the menstrual cycle and urinary ovulation kits, all women had ovulatory menstrual cycles that ranged from 24 to 40 days (mean of 29 days). To further confirm this, blood samples were collected to measure the hormones estradiol and progesterone. Based on the women who had blood samples collected (87%) in both menstrual cycle phases, estradiol levels were not significantly different in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase (93.71 ± 7.06 pg/ml vs. 74.28 ± 10.68 pg/ml; p ≥ 0.05), whereas progesterone levels in the luteal phase were significantly higher than in the follicular phase in both FHN and FHP women (7.40 ± 0.76 ng/ml vs. 0.61 ± 0.04 ng/ml; p ≤ 0.0001), and there were no differences between the two groups.
