[Sex gland function in obese women]

A study was made of the functional state of the gonads in 365 obese women. Clinical data were compared with the results of study of fractional composition of estrogens excreted with the urine at various phases of the menstrual cycle. Gonad dysfunction was much more frequent in neuro-endocrine than in exogenous-constitutional adiposity (62 and 31.5%, respectively). Amenorrhea was dominating among other disturbances of the menstrual cycle. Hirsutism was manifest in 10.5% of the patients with neuro-endocrine adiposity and disturbance of the menstrual cycle. A fall of the estrogen excretion, more pronounced in calculation per 1 kg and 1 m2 of body surface, was seen in obese women; as to estrogen excretion -- it approximately corresponded to such in healthy women at the initial phases of the menstrual cycle, i. e. at the period of the minimal estrogenic activity of the ovaries. There was a higher production of active estrogen fractions with their maximal content not at the ovulation phase, as in healthy persons, but at the lutein phase. A reduction of body weight promoted improvement of the gonad function, normalization of the quantitative and qualitative indices of the estrogen excretion.