Luteal Phase Deficiency in Regularly Menstruating Women: Prevalence and Overlap in Identification Based on Clinical and Biochemical Diagnostic Criteria
Schliep KC, Mumford SL, Hammoud AO, Stanford JB, Kissell KA, Sjaarda LA, Perkins NJ, Ahrens KA, Wactawski-Wende J, Mendola P, Schisterman EF · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2014 June 01
DOI 10.1210/jc.2013-3534
Objective
The objective of this prospective study was to assess the prevalence and overlap of two established luteal phase deficiency (LPD) diagnostic criteria – short luteal phase duration (<10 days, clinical LPD) and suboptimal luteal progesterone (≤5 ng/mL, biochemical LPD) – among eumenorrheic women and their relationship with reproductive hormone concentrations.
Conclusions
Among ovulatory cycles (n = 463), 8.9% had clinical LPD, 8.4% had biochemical LPD, and 4.3% met both criteria. Recurrent clinical and biochemical LPD was observed in 3.4% and 2.1% of women, respectively. Clinical and biochemical LPD were associated with lower follicular estradiol (both P ≤ .001) and luteal estradiol (P = .03 and P = .02, respectively), while clinical LPD was additionally associated with lower LH and FSH across all cycle phases (P ≤ .001). The findings suggest that clinical and biochemical LPD may reflect different underlying mechanisms, and combining ovulation identification with well-timed luteal progesterone measurement could be a cost-effective and specific tool for LPD assessment by clinicians and researchers.
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