Reference intervals for blood androgen levels in women of early and late reproductive age

Objective. To form reference intervals for blood androgen levels in women depending on their age. Materials and methods. The study included 1140 women who were divided into two groups depending on their age: late reproductive age (LR A) group consisting of women aged 35 years or older and early reproductive age (ERA) group which included patients under 35 years. To determine a number of hormones, patients of LRA group were divided into two subgroups: women of middle reproductive age (35-39 years) and women of late reproductive age (40-49 years). There was an assessment of the level of the following androgens: total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and rostenedione (A) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). The calculation of 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles for these indicators was done according to the recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) using statistical processing of reference values. Results. Reference intervals were obtained for TT, FT, DHT, DHEAS, A and SHBG in reproductive-aged women and significant differences were revealed in the indicators of LRA and ERA women (p<0.05). Conclusion. During the assessment of androgen levels in women, it is necessary to evaluate not only the upper reference value, as its excess indicates hyperandrogenism, but also the lower reference value, which can be indicative of androgen deficiency. It is also important to stratify patients correctly into groups depending on their age. The obtained data can be used in other clinical and diagnostic laboratories after the appropriate validation, according to the requirements of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).

androgens, androgen deficiency, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, reference intervals, late reproductive age, early reproductive age