[Hormonal etiology of secondary amenorrhea]

Over a 12-month period we evaluated 185 patients who consulted our outpatient department with symptoms of secondary amenorrhoea. Hormonal levels and body mass index were determined and an assessment made, on the basis of specific questioning. of the occurrence of possible mental alterations in the patients before they became amenorrhoic. Of our collective, 36 patients (19.5%) showed normal hormonal values, 50 patients (26%) were hypoestrogenemic, 46 women (25%) had elevated androgens, 15 patients (8%) had increased gonadotropins, 4 patients (2%) suffered from hyperprolactinemia, and 2 women (1%) had thyroid dysfunction. The remaining 32 amenorrhoic patients (17.2%) demonstrated different combinations of altered hormone values. The hypoestrogenemic patients showed a significant difference (p < 0.043) in body mass index in comparison with patients demonstrating normal hormone values. In contrast to reports in the literature hypoestrogenemia was the most frequent cause of secondary amenorrhoea in our study.