Serum progesterone, estradiol, testosterone and cortisol were assayed in the mid-follicular and mid-luteal phases of the menstrual cycles in 30 Lippe's loop and 30 Cu T-200 IUCD users, compared to 24 controls. Mean serum progesterone and estradiol levels were significantly higher in the mid-luteal, compared to the mid-follicular phase in each group (p less than 0.01). There were no significant differences between the mean levels of progesterone, testosterone and cortisol in IUCD users and controls in both the mid-follicular and mid-luteal phases. IUCD users had significantly higher levels of estradiol (p less than 0.01) in the mid-luteal phase but not in the mid-follicular phase, compared to controls. There was hormonal evidence of corpus luteum insufficiency in 8.3%, 14.3% and 20% in the controls, Lippe's loop and Cu T-200 IUCD users, respectively.
PIP: Physicians divided 84 gynecologic patients aged 18-35 years who had not used any hormonal contraception or any drug that affects hormone homeostasis for at least 1 year at the outpatient clinic of Benha University Hospital in Egypt into 3 comparable groups to document the impact of IUDs on the human hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Lippes loop users experienced a significantly shorter cycle length than either the copper T-200 IUD (Cu T-200) group or the control group (p.05). The Cu T-200 group had a significantly longer education duration of flow than did the other 2 groups (p.05). Neither the Lippes loop nor the Cu T-200 affected ovulation, except in 1 case of a Lippes loop user. Nevertheless, corpus luteum insufficiency did occur in 14.3% of Lippes loop cases, 205 of Cu T-200 cases, and in 8.3% of control group cases. The mean serum estradiol level in the midluteal phase stood significantly higher in the Lippes loop users than in both those using the Cu T-200 and no IUD (p.01). No significant differences existed, however, in mean serum progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol levels between IUD users and the control group during the midfollicular and midluteal phases. For all groups, the midluteal phase exhibited higher mean serum levels of estradiol and progesterone than the midfollicular phase (p.01), but no significant differences existed for testosterone and cortisol.