Low profiles of salivary progesterone among college undergraduate women

Abstract

High incidences of amenorrhea and oligomenorrhea are often found among late adolescent, college-aged women. We studied menstrual profiles of salivary progesterone in 17 undergraduate women (average age 20.2 years) who were experiencing regular menstrual cycles, and compared the results with similar data obtained from older women, both recreational runners (30.7 years) and nonexercising controls (29.3 years), to see whether this late adolescent population showed evidence of compromised luteal function not manifested by menstrual irregularity. The profiles obtained from the undergraduates and the older women were similar in shape but different in level. The undergraduate profiles were significantly lower than the controls (average progesterone level during the luteal phase, 154 ± 14 versus 287 ± 30 pmol/L; peak progesterone level, 352 ± 35 versus 655 ± 46 pmol/L; mean ± SE, p < 0.01), and remained at a significantly elevated level for fewer days (1.3 ± 0.4 versus 4.5 ± 0.6 days, p < 0.01). The undergraduates were more comparable in all measures to the older women runners; however, reported exercise and weight differences did not account for the low levels in the undergraduates. We suggest that the low progesterone levels in the undergraduates reflect an extended process of ovarian maturation that does not culminate until the mid to late twenties.