Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is commonly defined as amenorrhea or disordered menses for at least 4 months in association with menopausal FSH levels in women who are < 40 years old.

Methods: The aim of our study is to describe the etiology, demographic characteristics, therapeutical management and repercussion in reproduction in patiens with POI. We carried out a retrospective observational study including 25 women with a primary ovarian insufficiency diagnosis after normal pubertal development. We determined different variables such as age at onset of clinical manifestations, etiology, family history, evolution of the disorder after diagnosis, hormonal replacement, time between diagnosis and initiation of treatment and gestational history.

Results: The mean age at onset of clinical manifestations was 32.24 years (S.D.±7.5). Four patients (16%) had autoinmune ooforitis; two patients (8%) had structural abnormalities in the X-chromosome and in 19 patients (78%) the etiology was unknown. 42% of patients with idiopatic etiology had family history. Two patients had spontaneus recovery after the diagnosis, in all other patients the condition was permanent. 35% of patients with permanent ovarían insufficiency did not have hormonal replacement and those who were taking treatment had a delay of more than 1 year between diagnosis and initiation of treatment. 52% of patients were nulliparous before diagnosis. 58% of these patients have used assisted reproduction techniques (ART).

Conclusion: According to literature, idiopatic is the most frequent etiology of POI in our sample and there is evident family association in these patients.

There is an important delay between diagnosis and initiation of hormonal replacement in these patients, probably due to lack of knowledge of this condition of physicians.

We note higher prevalence of POI in the 4th decade. It is important to consider this aspect at the time of recommending the use of ART to avoid unnecessary delays that may increase gestational risks.