Correlation of vaginal pH with FSH levels in menopause

Abstract

Introduction: Menopause is the physiological cessation of menstruation that denotes a normal human developmental phase in the life of woman. Menopause is suspected with age, cessation of menstruation for more than a year and presence of symptoms. The diagnosis of menopause is confirmed by follicle stimulating hormore (FSH) levels >40 IU/L. Few studies have focused on vaginal pH for menopausal diagnosis. It is a simple, noninvasive and inexpensive method for this purpose. Aims & Objectives: To correlate vaginal pH with FSH level as marker of menopause. Material and Method: 200 menopausal women attending OPD of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Patiala ware selected randomly. Vaginal pH measurement was done using pH strips. A simultaneous blood sample was taken for FSH level measurement which was done using immuno enzymometric assay. Vaginal pH and FSH levels were correlated as markers of menopause. Results: According to our study, mean age of attaining menopause came out to be 47.42+3.64 years. Mean vaginal pH in our study was 6.13±0.59 and mean FSH level were 55.73+12.89 IU/L. As FSH levels ≥40IU/L is taken as diagnostic cut off value for menopausal status thus, we concluded that a vaginal pH of ≥6.00 can be taken as marker for menopausal status in the absence of any vaginal infection. The sensitivity of pH ≥6.00 as marker of menopause came out to be 88% Conclusion: Vaginal pH is simple accurate and cost-effective tool that can be suggested as a suitable and better alternative to serum FSH estimation for diagnosis of menopause.