title: Lynestrenol induced therapeutic amenorrhea: effects of dose reduction on serum sex-hormones and lipids.
abstract: The effect of reducing the dose of peroral lynestrenol by half on serum sex-hormone, lipid and lipoprotein status was studied in 21 mentally retarded women with therapeutic amenorrhea (TA). They had previously received 5 or 10 mg peroral lynestrenol daily for periods ranging from 32 to 196 months. Dose halving of lynestrenol resulted in an increase in serum total testosterone (T) by 16% (p less than 0.05), sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) by 39% (p less than 0.01) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) by 28% (p less than 0.001). Both the mean serum total and free concentrations of norethisterone (NET and fNET) decreased by 60% (p less than 0.001). The serum concentrations of 17-beta-estradiol (E2), its free fractions (fE2) and free T (fT) were not significantly altered. Significant correlations were observed between the change in HDL-C and the change in T (r = 0.45, p less than 0.05), between the change in SHBG and the change in T (r = 0.62, p less than 0.01), fT (r = 0.43, p less than 0.05) and E2 (r = 0.51, p less than 0.05). The elevation of HDL-C was probably caused by the reduced serum NET concentrations. This also resulted in an increase in serum SHBG concentration, which is regarded as an indicator of the overall estrogen/androgen ratio.
authors.affiliation: Rinnekoti Institute for the Mentally Retarded, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Huovinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lähteenmäki
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kärkkäinen
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tikkanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000568:Amenorrhea / Q000139:chemically induced*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000628:therapy; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008234:Lynestrenol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009640:Norethindrone / Q000097:blood; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins; D002784:Cholesterol; D008234:Lynestrenol; D009640:Norethindrone