Evaluation of pituitary gonadotropic function in men: Value of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone response versus basal luteinizing hormone level for discrimination of diagnosis

S. M. Harman, P. D. Tsitouras, P. T. Costa, D. L. Loriaux, R. J. Sherins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examined the serum LH response to LRH in 40 normal men and 38 men with various forms of gonadal dysfunction in an attempt to determine whether the LH response to LRH was more useful than the basal LH level alone for categorizing pathophysiological subgroups of gonadal dysfunction. The subgroups studied included hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, delayed puberty, idiopathic oligospermia, and primary hypogonadism. Log transformation of all values was done in order to normalize the data. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that increased basal LH was associated with increased incremental LH responses. However, our preliminary analysis of LRH response data suggested that the changes in LH were smaller in the secondary hypogonadal and delayed puberty groups than could be accounted for by the differences in basal LH level. Accordingly, we used various statistical techniques to test whether, and under what conditions, LRH testing provides information beyond that evident from examination of basal LH values. We found that the relationship between basal LH and the LH response to LRH differs in men with and without hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction and that this difference can be exploited to improve the discrimination of men with pituitary hypogonadism from normals.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)196-200
Number of pages5
JournalUnknown Journal
Volume54
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1982
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Biochemistry
  • Endocrinology
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Biochemistry, medical

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluation of pituitary gonadotropic function in men: Value of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone response versus basal luteinizing hormone level for discrimination of diagnosis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this