Evaluation of menstrual cycle-related changes in 85 clinical laboratory analytes

ObjectiveThe menstrual cycle-related changes in clinical laboratory values were analysed by use of data obtained in the Asian multicentre study aimed at derivation of common reference intervals for 85 major clinical laboratory tests.MethodsAmong 1876 healthy female volunteers, 893 had regular menstruation. They were classified into five groups according to dates between sample collection and the start of the last menstrual cycle: early follicular phase (1–6 days), late follicular phase (7–12 days), ovulatory phase (13–16 days), early luteal phase (17–22 days), and late luteal phase (23–31 days). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle-related changes in test results. The magnitude was expressed as a standard deviation ratio of between-phase standard deviation to between-individual standard deviation based on nested ANOVA.ResultsAside from obvious changes for four sex hormones (oestradiol, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone), we obs...