Urinary Excretion of Oestrogens and the Oestrogenic Effect in Vaginal Smears in Post‐Menopausal Women with Uterine Bleeding

Abstract

Abstract. A series consisting of 145 post‐menopausal women with uterine bleeding and a control group of 55 post‐menopausal women without this symptom were investigated. The urinary excretion of oestrone, oestradiol and oestriol was measured on three consecutive days. The oestrogenic effect in vaginal smears was determined and the endometrium was histologically investigated. In those patients with uterine bleeding who showed an oestrogenic effect in the endometrium or an endometrial polyp, the urinary excretion of oestrone, oestradiol and oestriol and the oestrogenic effect in the vaginal smear were clearly higher than in the control group, although overlapping occurred. In those patients in the bleeding group who had atrophic or slightly proliferative endometrium or endometrial carcinoma, the urinary oestrogen excretion was low and the oestrogenic effect in the vaginal smear was poorly developed, and did not differ from the corresponding values in the control group. Of the various urinary oestrogen values (oestrone, oestradiol, oestriol and the sum of these) the total value was found to correlate most obviously with an endometrial oestrogenic effect. A positive correlation was also observed between an oestrogenic effect in the vaginal smear and an endometrial oestrogenic effect.