Peculiarities of hormonal homeostasis in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with menopausal disorders

Abstract

According to WHO, now on the planet 46% of women are over the age of 45 years, among women in Ukraine – this is almost half (13.2 million). Of these, 46-68% suffer from climacteric syndrome. An increase in the duration of a healthy life and prolongation of the age of working capacity acquire not only medical, but also socio-economic significance, both in Ukraine and in other European countries. Therefore, the aim of the study was a comprehensive (involving pituitary, ovarian, adrenal and thyroid hormones) hormonal examination of women of peri- and postmenopausal age with menopause syndrome to identify the most likely hormonal predictors of this pathology. For this purpose, 64 women of perimenopausal and postmenopausal age with menopause and 42 healthy women of the same age categories had a study of the concentration of pituitary (LH, FSH, prolactin), ovarian hormones (estradiol, progesterone, testosterone), thyroid hormones (TSH, triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4)) and adrenal glands (DHEA-s, cortisol) in blood plasma. Hormones were determined using a set of test systems from “Immunotech” (Czech Republic-France) using the radio-immune method. Comparisons of the quantitative data of the two related groups (before and after treatment) were made using Wilcoxon signed rank test. When differences were detected, pairwise group comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney test. In women of perimenopausal and postmenopausal age with menopause syndrome, compared with healthy women of the same age groups, a significant increase in gonadotropin levels (LH by 3.7 and 3.0 times, respectively; FSH by 1.6 and 1.9 times) and a decrease indicator of prolactin in 1.5 and 1.2 times; estradiol 1.2 and 2.2 times and testosterone 2.9 and 2.4 times. A significant decrease in progesterone by 1.9 times occurred only in the group of postmenopausal women with menopause syndrome. In women of perimenopausal and postmenopausal age of the main group, a significant decrease was found in comparison with the control of DHEA-s levels by 1.3 times and 2.2 times, respectively; cortisol 1.2 and 2.0 times; TSH is 2.6 times and 2.0 times, respectively, however, thyroxine tended to increase (the probability p<0.05 was valid only for women of perimenopausal age). Thus, in postmenopausal women with menopausal syndrome, hormonal imbalance is more pronounced, indicating a deep atrophy of hormone-dependent tissue receptors and, as a result, a deepening of involutive processes.