Throughout a woman's reproductive life there is a close relationship between the activity of the ovary and that of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis.
As the menopause approaches this relationship becomes progressively disturbed.
During the peri-menopause the deficiency of ovarian hormones is though to disturb the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis from ovarian control, resulting in the high levels of FSH and LH found in postmenopausal women.
There has been known that the change of serum levels of gonadotropin and estradiol precede the menopause and is related decreasing tendency of pregnancy rate.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age on the serum levels of FSH, LH, estradiol in infertile women with regular menstrual cycle.
Seventy-four infertile women were evaluate according to their ages classifled into 5 groups as well as control I (18~24 years old) and control II(45~55 years old) (Group I: 21~24 years old, Group II25~29 years old, Group III:30~34 years old,
Group
IV:35~39years old, Group V:40~44 years old, respectively).
1. The mean serum levels of FSH, LH, and estradiol in control I during their early follicular phase were 10.11±2.08mIU/ml, 6.29±2.44 mIU/ml, 39.04±16.84mIU/ml, respectively.
2. The levels of FSH and LH were significantly higher than those of control I or all infertile groups(P<0.001) and the levels of estradiol were significantly lower than those of group V(p<0.005).
Ten mean serum levels of FSH, LH, and estradiol in control II during their early follicular phase were 53.43±24.32mIU/ml, 47.51±18.07mIU/ml, 24.05±20.79pg/ml, respectively.
3. The mean serum levels of FSH in infertile groups(group I~V) during their early follicular phase were 10.94±2.83mIU/ml, 10.33±2.66mIU/ml, 11.92±3.91mIU/ml, 10.27±3.78mIU/ml, 16.18±3.25mIU/ml, respectively and the level of FSH in group V
was
significantly higher than other infertile groups and control I (p<0.001).
4. The mean serum levels of LH in infertile groups during their early follicular phase were 8.51±3.27mIU/ml, 7.90±4.06mIU/ml, 7.41±4.06mIU/ml, 7.41±5.36mIU/ml, 6.38±3.24mIU/ml, 7.56±4.74mIU/ml, respectively and there were no significant
difference among the levels of FSH in infertile groups(p>0.05).
5. The mean levels of estradiol (E2) in infertile groups during their early follicular phase were 37.77±20.57pg/ml, 35.42±15.12pg/ml, 44.68±22.28pg/ml, 74.53±68.01pg/ml, 63.99±63.90pg/ml, respectively and there were no significant
difference
among
the levels of estradiol in infertile groups(p>0.05).
6. The LH/FSH ratio in all infertile groups and normal control groups were 0.78±0.22, 0.83±0.54, 0.63±0.49, 0.74±0.34, 0.46±0.27, 0.66±0.30, respectively and the LH/FSH ratio in group V was significantly lower than those of group I,
II(p<0.02)
but in other groups, there were no significant difference among groups(p>0.05).
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