Virginia Vitzthum's Publications

Poppy Alexandra Cooper, Emily R. Boniface, Blair G. Darney, Alison Edelman, Rebecca Sear, Amanda A. Shea, Sarah Walters, Kirsten Weber, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Alexandra Alvergne
Menstrual cycle phase and its association with COVID-19 vaccine side effects and subsequent infection: A study of period tracking app users
Preprint [Open-access]

Amanda A. Shea, Kirsten Weber, Cornelia Hainer, Marta Gómez Vargas, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Menstrual tracking app use in menstrual health self-management: A cross-sectional survey of user concerns, goals, and strategies
Preprint [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Diva Bellido, Lourdes Echalar, Esperanza Caceres, and Jonathan Thornburg
Salivary/Serum Progesterone Ratio Differs Between Menstrual Cycle Phases but Not Between Populations: Implications for Health, Reproductive, and Behavioral Research
American Journal of Human Biology 37, e70077 (2025) [Open-access]

Priyanka N deSouza, Amanda A Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Fábio Duarte, Claire Gorman Hanly, Meghan Timmons, Patricia Huguelet, Mary D Sammel, Carlo Ratti, Danielle Braun, and Rachel C Nethery
The effect of air pollution exposure on menstrual cycle health using self-reported data from a mobile health app: a prospective, observational study
Lancet Planetary Health 9(5), E364-E373 (2025) [Open-access]
Preprint [Open-access]

Emily M. Chester, Jacek Kolacz, Christine J. Ake, Jonathan Thornburg, Xiwei Chen, Amanda A. Shea, Bryndís Eva Birgisdóttir, Geir Gunnlaugsson, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Well-being in healthy Icelandic women varies with extreme seasonality in ambient light
International Journal of Psychology 59(3), 486-494 (2024) [Open-access]

Rose Stevens, Eshetu Gurmu, Chris Smith, Rebecca Sear, Ametelber Negash, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Tamrat Abebe, Sisay Teklu, Jenny A. Cresswell, Elizabeth Ewart, Lemlem Kebede, and Alexandra Alvergne
Quantifying Contraceptive Side-Effects: A Prospective Cohort Study of Symptom Burden, Risk Factors, and Daily Life Disruption in South-Central Ethiopia
Preprint [Open-access]

Rose Stevens, Alexandra Alvergne, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Low haemoglobin in arduous seasons is associated with reduced chance of ovulation among women living in the Bolivian altiplano
Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 12 (2024), 191-203 [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
How It Works: The Biological Mechanisms that Generate Demographic Diversity
chapter 11 (pp 251-290) in
Oskar Burger, Ronald Lee, and Rebecca Sear, Eds.,
Human Evolutionary Demography
OpenBook Publishers, 2024 [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Jonathan Thornburg, Thomas W. McDade, Kathryn A. Hicks, Aaron Miller, Emily M. Chester, Baileigh Goodlett, Esperanza Caceres, and Hilde Spielvogel
C-reactive protein (CRP) in high altitude Bolivian peri-urban adolescents varies by adiposity, current illness, height, socioeconomic status, sex, and menarcheal status: The potential benefits and costs of adipose reserves in arduous environments
American Journal of Human Biology 2024 e24107 [Open-access]

Kim G Harley, Annalisa Watson, Samantha Robertson, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Amanda Shea
Menstrual Cycle Characteristics of U. S. Adolescents According to Gynecologic Age and Age at Menarche
Journal of Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology 37(4), 419-425 (2024) [Open-access]

Amanda A Shea, Jonathan Thornburg, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Assessment of App-Based Versus Conventional Survey Modalities for Reproductive Health Research in India, South Africa, and the United States: Comparative Cross-Sectional Study JMIR Formative Research 7, e44705 (2023) [Open-access]

Amanda A. Shea, Meghana Kulkarni, Jonathan Thornburg, Cécile Ventola, Erin Walker, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
A Bother or a Benefit? How Contraceptive Users Balance the Trade-Offs Between Preferred Menstrual Bleeding Patterns and Preferred Contraceptive Methods in India, South Africa, and the United States
Women's Reproductive Health 11(2), 343-382 (2023) [Open-access]

Laura J. Botzet, Amanda Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Anna Druet, Maddie Sheesley, and Tanja M. Gerlach
The Link Between Age and Partner Preferences in a Large, International Sample of Single Women
Human Nature 34, 539-568 (2023) [Open-access]

Alexandra Alvergne, Emily Boniface, Blair Darney, Amanda Shea, Kirsten Weber, Cécile Ventola, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Alison Edelman
Associations Among Menstrual Cycle Length, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and Vaccination
Obstetrics & Gynecology 143(1), 83-91 (2024) [Open-access]

Amanda A. Shea, Fiorella Wever, Cécile Ventola, Jonathan Thornburg and Virginia J. Vitzthum
More than blood: app-tracking reveals variability in heavy menstrual bleeding construct
BMC Women's Health 23, 170 (2023) [Open-access]
Erratum: BMC Women's Health 23, 195 (2023) [Open-access]

Mecca E. Burris, Esperanza Caceres, Emily M. Chester, Kathryn A. Hicks, Thomas W. McDade, Lynn Sikkink, Hilde Spielvogel, Jonathan Thornburg, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Socioeconomic impacts on Andean adolescents' growth: Variation between households, between communities and over time
Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2022, 409--428 [Open-access]

Kathy Li, Iñigo Urteaga, Amanda Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Chris H. Wiggins, and Noémie Elhadad
A predictive model for next cycle start date that accounts for adherence in menstrual self-tracking
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 29(1), 3-11 (2022) [Open-access]

Kathy Li, Iñigo Urteaga, Amanda Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Chris H. Wiggins, and Noémie Elhadad
A generative, predictive model for menstrual cycle lengths that accounts for potential self-tracking artifacts in mobile health data
Open-access preprint

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Jonathan Thornburg, Hilde Spielvogel, and Tobias Deschner
Recognizing normal reproductive biology: A comparative analysis of variability in menstrual cycle biomarkers in German and Bolivian women
American Journal of Human Biology 33 (2021), e23663 [Open-access]

Jennifer M. Cullin, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Andrea S. Wiley
Mind the gap: Contesting normal/abnormal constructs of human biology and behaviors
American Journal of Human Biology 33(5), e23666 (2021)
Journal preprint (pdf)

Iñigo Urteaga, Kathy Li, Amanda Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Chris H. Wiggins, and Noémie Elhadad
A Generative Modeling Approach to Calibrated Predictions: A Use Case on Menstrual Cycle Length Prediction
Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 149, 535-566 (2021) [Open-access]
Preprint (pdf)

Amanda A Shea and Virginia J. Vitzthum
The extent and causes of natural variation in menstrual cycles: Integrating empirically-based models of ovarian cycling into research on women's health
Drug Discovery Today: Disease Models 32, 41-49 (2020)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Field methods and strategies for assessing female reproductive functioning
American Journal of Human Biology 33(5), e23513 (2021)

Amanda N. Gesselman, Anna Druet, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Mobile sex-tech apps: How use differs across global areas of high and low gender equality
PLOS One 15(9), e0238501 [Open-access]

Kathy Li, Iñigo Urteaga, Chris H. Wiggins, Anna Druet, Amanda Shea, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Noémie Elhadad
Characterizing physiological and symptomatic variation in menstrual cycles using self-tracked mobile-health data
npj Digital Medicine 3, 79 (2020) [Open-access]

Jonathan Thornburg and Virginia J. Vitzthum
An economical insulated shipping container providing a >4-day lifetime for frozen biosamples without dry ice
Open-access preprint

Evanna I. Singh and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Community, household, and individual correlates of sleep behaviors in Guyanese female youth
American Journal of Human Biology 31(5), e23291

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Jonathan Thornburg, and Hilde Spielvogel
Population-specific life history tradeoffs in nocturnal breastfeeding
Sleep Health 5(3), 220

Kenetta L. Nunn, Benjamin J. Ridenhour, Emily M. Chester, Virginia J. Vitzthum, J. Dennis Fortenberry, and Larry J. Forney
Vaginal Glycogen, Not Estradiol, Is Associated With Vaginal Bacterial Community Composition in Black Adolescent Women
Journal of Adolescent Health 65(1), 130-138 (2019) [Open-access]

Richard A. Crosby, Cynthia A. Graham, Stephanie A. Sanders, William L. Yarber, Marija V. Wheeler, Robin R. Milhausen, and Virginia J. Vitzhum
Decision making over condom use during menses to avert sexually transmissible infections
Sex Health 16(1), 90-93 (2019)
Peprint
Corrigendum: Sex Health 16(1), 100 (2019)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Fitness
in P. Whelehan and A. Bolin (eds)
The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality (2018)

Emily M. Chester and Virginia J. Vitzthum, Reproductive maturation, human
in The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology (2018)

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Jonathan Thornburg, and Hilde Spielvogel
Impacts of nocturnal breastfeeding, photoperiod, and access to electricity on maternal sleep behaviors in a non-industrial rural Bolivian population
Sleep Health 4(6), 535-542 (2018)
Reprint
Erratum: Sleep Health 6(6), 837-838 (2020) [Open-access]
Erratum: Sleep Health 6(6), 844 (2020) [Open-access]

Tierney K. Lorenz, Amanda N. Gesselman, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Variance in Mood Symptoms Across Menstrual Cycles: Implications for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
Women's Reproductive Health 4(2), 77-88
NIH Public Access Author Manuscript

Rebecca M. Bedwell, Hilde Spielvogel, Diva Bellido, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Factors Influencing the Use of Biomedical Health Care by Rural Bolivian Anemic Women: Structural Barriers, Reproductive Status, Gender Roles, and Concepts of Anemia
PLOS One 12(1), e0170475 (2017) [Open-access]

Tierney K. Lorenz, Carol Worthman, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Links among inflammation, sexual activity and ovulation: Evolutionary trade-offs and clinical implications
Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2015(1), 304-324 [Open-access]

Krista M. Milich, Caroline Deimel, Franka S. Schaebs, Jonathan Thornburg, Tobias Deschner, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Links between breast cancer and birth weight: an empirical test of the hypothesized association between size at birth and premenopausal adult progesterone concentrations
Hormones and Cancer 6, 182-188 (2015) [Open-access]

Tierney K. Lorenz, Bonnie A. McGregor, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Presence of young children at home may moderate development of hot flashes during the menopausal transition
Menopause 22(4), 448-452 (2015)
NIH Public Access Author Manuscript

Amy L Harris and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Darwin's legacy: An evolutionary view of women's reproductive and sexual functioning
Journal of Sex Research 50(3-4), 207-246 (2013)
Journal offprint (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Fifty Fertile Years: Anthropologists' Studies of Reproduction in High Altitude Natives
American Journal of Human Biology 25(2), 179-189

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Carol M. Worthman, Cynthia M. Beall, Jonathan Thornburg, Enrique Vargas, Mercedes Villena, Rudy Soria, Esperanza Caceres, and Hilde Spielvogel
Seasonal and circadian variation in salivary testosterone in rural Bolivian men
American Journal of Human Biology 21(6), 762-768 (2009)
NIH Public Access Author Manuscript [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
The ecology and evolutionary endocrinology of reproduction in the human female
American Journal of Biological Anthropology (Supplement: Yearbook of Physical Anthropology) 140(S49), 95-136 [Open-access]

Pablo A. Nepomnaschy, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Mark V. Flinn
Evolutionary Endocrinology: Integrating Proximate Mechanisms, Ontogeny, and Evolved Function
American Journal of Human Biology 21(6), 728-730 (2009) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Jonathan Thornburg, and Hilde Spielvogel
Seasonal Modulation of Reproductive Effort during Early Pregnancy in Humans
American Journal of Human Biology 21(4), 548558 (2009)

Virginia J. Vitzthum and Jonathan Thornburg
Analyses Do Not Support CYP17 Genotype Estradiol Association
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 17, 1550 (2008) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Evolution and Endocrinology: The Regulation of Pregnancy Outcomes
Chapter 6 (pages 99-126) in
Sarah Elton and Paul O'Higgins
Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects
CRC Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1420051377

Virginia J. Vitzthum
On Our Obligation to Respond to Psuedo-Science
Anthropology News 48(5), 4-5 (2007)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Evolutionary Models of Women's Reproductive Functioning
Annual Review of Anthropology 37, 53-73 (2008)
Journal offprint (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Hilde Spielvogel, Jonathan Thornburg, and Brady West
A Prospective Study of Early Pregnancy Loss in Humans
Fertility and Sterility 86, 373-379 (2006) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Alan Fix, and Amy Livingstone
The Four-Field Anthropology and Multi-faceted Life of Frank B. Livingstone
Michigan Discussions in Anthropology 16(1) (2006) [Open-access]
Reprint (pdf) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum and Karin Ringheim
Hormonal Contraception and Physiology: A Research-based Theory of Discontinuation Due to Side Effects
Studies in Family Planning 36(1), 13-32 (2005) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
On Our Obligation to Respond to Psuedo-Science
Anthropology News 48(5), 4-5 (2007)

Alan G. Fix, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and Robert B. Eckhardt
Frank B. Livingstone (1928-2005)
American Anthropologist 108(4), 938-940 (2006)
Reprint (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Hilde Spielvogel, and Jonathan Thornburg
Interpopulational differences in progesterone levels during conception and implantation in humans
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101 (2004), 1443-1448 [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum and Andrea S. Wiley
The Proximate Determinants of Fertility in Populations Exposed to Chronic Hypoxia
High Altitude Medicine & Biology 4(2), 125-139 (2003)
Reprint (pdf)
Alternate URL (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Frank B. Livingstone: Introduction
Human Biology 75(4), 419-426 (2003)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
A Number No Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: The Use and Abuse of Heritability
Human Biology 75(4) (2003), 539-558
Journal offprint (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum and Kevin D. Hunt
Frank Livingstone honored at AAPA meeting
Evolutionary Anthropology 12(4), 161-163 (2003)

Hilde Spielvogel and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Epidemiological Transitions, Reproductive Health, and the Flexible Response Model
Economics and Human Biology 1(2), 223-242 (2003)

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Gillian Bentley, Hilde Spielvogel, Esperanza Caceres, Jonathan Thornburg, Lary Jones, Sarah Shore, Kelly R. Hodges, and Robert T. Chatterton
Salivary progesterone levels and rate of ovulation are significantly lower in poorer than in better-off urban-dwelling Bolivian women
Human Reproduction 17(7), 1906-1913 (2002)
Reprint (pdf)
Reprint (Alternate URL) (pdf)

James R. Bindon and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Household economic strategies and nutritional anthropometry of women in American Samoa and highland Bolivia
Social Science & Medicine 54 1299-1308 (2002)
Reprint (pdf)

Tom D. Brutsaert, Hilde Spielvogel, Esperanza Caceres, Mauricio Araoz, Robert T. Chatterton, and Virginia J. Vitzthum
Effect of menstrual cycle phase on exercise performance of high-altitude native women at 3600 m
Journal of Experimental Biology 205(2), 233-239 (2002)
Reprint (pdf)
Reprint (Alternate URL) (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum, Hilde Spielvogel, Esperanza Caceres, and Aaron Miller
Vaginal bleeding patterns among rural highland Bolivian women: Relationship to fecundity and fetal loss
Contraception 64(5) 319-325 (2001)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Why Not So Great Is Still Good Enough: Flexible Responsiveness in Human Reproductive Functioning
pages 179-202 in
Peter T. Ellison, Ed.,
Reproductive Ecology & Human Evolution
Aldine de Greyter, New York, 2001

Virginia J. Vitzthum
The home team advantage: reproduction in women indigenous to high altitude
The Journal of Experimental Biology 204, 3141-3150 (2001) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Does Hypoxia Impair Ovarian Function in Bolivian Women Indigenous to High Altitude?
Virginia J. Vitzthum, Peter. T. Ellison, S. Sukalich, Esperanza Caceres, and Hilde Spielvogel
High Altitude Medicine & Biology 1(1), 39-49 (2000)
Reprint (pdf)
Reprint (Alternate URL) (pdf)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Menstrual patterns and fecundity among non-lactating and lactating cycling women in rural highland Bolivia: implications for contraceptive choice
Contraception 62, 181-187 (2000)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
review of
Lyliane Rosetta and C.G.N. Mascie-Taylor
Variability in human fertility
Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-49569-5
American Journal of Biological Anthropology 107(3), 367-369 (1998)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Comparative Study of Breastfeeding Structure and Its Relation to Human Reproductive Ecology
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 37, 307-349 (1994) [Open-access]

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Odontometric Variation within and between Taxonomic Levels of Cereopithecidae: Implications for Interpretations of Fossil Samples
Human Evolution 5(4), 359-374 (1990)

Virginia J. Vitzthum
Nursing behaviour and its relation to duration of post-partum amenorrhoea in an Andean community
Journal of Biosocial Science 21(2), 145-160 (1989)
Journal offprint (pdf)

L. L. Allen, P. S. Bridges, D. L. Evon, Karen R. Rosenberg, M. D. Russell, Lynn. A. Schepartz, Virginia J. Vitzthum, Milford H. Wolpoff
Demography and Human Origins
American Anthropologist 84(4), 888-896
Reprint (pdf)

Peter E Smouse, Virginia J. Vitzthum, and James V Neel
The impact of random and lineal fission on the genetic divergence of small human groups: a case study among the Yanomama
Genetics 98(1), 179-197 (1981)
NIH Public Access Author Manuscript [Open-access]