Relation of luteinizing hormone levels to body mass index in premenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and basal LH and the LH-FSH ratio in normally menstruating women.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analysis.


METHODS
A teaching hospital clinic.


METHODS
Premenopausal women without cancer, not currently using oral contraceptives, selected from a familial ovarian cancer clinic or the general population.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
Early follicular phase plasma LH and FSH.


RESULTS
Luteinizing hormone increased slightly and nonsignificantly (P = 0.44) from the first to the second quintile of BMI and decreased over all subsequent quintiles. Women in the highest quintile of BMI (> 27.1) had significantly lower LH levels than women in the lowest quintile of BMI (< or = 20.4; P = 0.003). Compared with women in the second quintile of BMI who had the highest LH levels, women in the highest quintile of BMI had LH levels that were 40% lower. The relationship between BMI and the LH-FSH ratio was similar, though not as strong.


CONCLUSIONS
Over most of the range of BMIs observed in this study, BMI was inversely associated with LH. These results suggest that the upper limits of normal for LH may need to be shifted downward for heavier women.
Bohlke
K
K
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Cramer
D W
DW
Barbieri
R L
RL
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017697:Premenopause / Q000502:physiology*
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone