Correlation of Prolactin and Thyroid Hormone Concentration with Menstrual Patterns in Infertile Women

Introduction: the increased prevalence of upper normal limit of tsh and raised antithyroperoxidaseantibody titer indicate, relatively more frequent occurrence of compensatedthyroid function in infertile women. this finding necessitates considering such cases for athorough investigation of pituitary-thyroid axis. in addition, as some patients may exhibit theclinical picture of hypothyroidism despite normal tsh and free thyroxin (ft4)concentrations, this hospital-based study was undertaken to review the impact of thyroidstatus on the menstrual function and fertility of the subjects.materials and methods: in this study, we investigated 160 women with primary infertilitywho attended the biochemistry department, maulana azad medical college (mamc), newdelhi for hormonal evaluations. eighty fertile women with similar age and socioeconomicstatus were enrolled as the controls. the association between thyroid dysfunction and levelsof serum prolactin, lh and fsh as their menstrual status were reviewed.results: the majority of the infertile and fertile women were euthyroid. in infertile group, thecrude prevalence of hypothyroidism was slightly higher in the infertile group in comparisonwith that of the general population. there was a positive correlation between serum tsh andprolactin levels in the infertile subjects. menstrual disorders (mainly oligomenorrhea), werereported by about 60% of the infertile women. hyperprolactinemia was depicted in 41% ofthe infertile women while it was only 15% in the control group. the infertile women withhypothyroidism had significantly higher prolactin levels when compared to the subjects withhyper- or euthyroidism. there was a significant association between abnormal menstrualpatterns and anovulatory cycles, as observed on endometrial examination of infertile subjectswith raised serum prolactin levels.conclusions: there is a greater propensity for thyroid disorder in infertile women than thefertile ones. there is also a higher prevalence of hyperprolactinemia in infertile patients.