Gonadotropin level abnormalities in women with cyclic mastalgia

Objectives: Women with cyclic mastalgia seem to be at risk of fibrocystic b reast disease and/or breast cancer. We studied the relationships between ma stalgia and hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle. Study design: Os tensibly healthy women were monitored during a sum of 326 cycles. A case-co ntrol study compared personal and hormonal variables of 30 women experienci ng cyclic mastalgia with those of 77 women without this symptom. Results: E xcept sleeping times, no significant differences were found in personal var iables. Cyclic mastalgia and symptoms of fluid retention were slightly asso ciated. Menses and the luteal phase were significantly longer in cases than in controls. Gonadotropin but not ovarian hormone levels were also signifi cantly higher in cases throughout the cycle. Conclusion: Cyclic mastalgia i s less related to symptoms of fluid retention or to ovarian hormone levels than to regularly high gonadotropin levels, specific inhibitors might thus be used to alleviate the symptom. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. Al l rights reserved.