Body Weight, Ovarian Enlargement and Urinary Steroids[*]

Abstract

The urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroids, Porter-Silber chromogens and 11-desoxycortisol metabolites expressed per day, per square meter of body surface or per gram of urine creatinine was increased to the same degree in females with ovarian enlargement whether or not obesity was present.

With only one exception, dexamethasone produced comparable suppression and exogenous ACTH evoked similar increases in these urinary steroids in non-obese and obese patients with enlargement of the ovaries. In the last 4 days of dexamethasone suppression (8 mg/day), urinary 17-ketosteroids were slightly higher in the obese group.

The urinary creatinine, 17-ketosteroids and Porter-Silber chromogen excretion of non-obese women (body weight: 139 ± 19 lbs) with ovarian enlargement, expressed in mg/day, exceeded that of the non-obese controls. Such differences were not evident when an obese group (body weight: 198 ± 24 lbs) with ovarian enlargement was compared to obese controls. The latter finding suggests that, even though obesity alone and ovarian enlargement alone tend to be associated with similar changes in urinary creatinine and in certain classes of urinary steroids, these characteristics of the two conditions are not additive.

Key words

Urinary Steroids - Ovarian Enlargement - Obesity - Dexamethasone - ACTH

1 Aided by grants from the Addison H. Gibson Foundation, the Western Pennsylvania Arthritis Foundation, and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare

1 Aided by grants from the Addison H. Gibson Foundation, the Western Pennsylvania Arthritis Foundation, and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare