Study of the relationship between dosage of oral progesterone and concentration of serum progesterone

Objective:To explore the relationship among body mass index(BMI),dosage of progesterone(P) and serum progesterone concentration,and provide reference for the clinical use of oral progesterone. Methods:This was a random,open-label,prospective clinical trial.Eighty women meeting the criteria for enrollment were recruited from July 2010 to March 2011 in outpatient clinic of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and given oral progesterone therapy for consecutive 10 days.They were randomly assigned into four groups according to the different doses of progesterone:group A 100 mg/day,group B 200 mg/day,group C 300 mg/day and group D 400 mg/day. Results:Seventy four patients(92.5%,74/80) accomplished the study.It can be observed that administration of different dosage of P could significantly increase serum P concentration(all P<0.001).And there was a positive correlation between the increase of P concentration and dosage(r_p=0.613,P<0.001).Furthermore,the medians of the increase of serum P concentration in 4 groups were 14.71 nmol/L in group A,28.47 nmol/L in group B, 58.89 nmol/L in group C,72.69 nmol/L in group D.When BMI<24 kg/m^2(42 cases),the median of the increase of P levels was 13.90 nmol/L,37.22 nmol/L,62.55 nmol/L,and 119.02 nmol/L in group A,B,C and D, respectively,while BMI≥24 kg/m^2(32 cases),the median of increase was 8.93 nmol/L,24.82 nmol/L,24.87 nmol/L,and 63.48 nmol/L,respectively.In addition,significant difference was found only in group D between women with BMI<24 kg/m^2 and with BMI≥24 kg/m^2(P = 0.010). Conclusions;Serum progesterone levels go up linearly with the dosage increasing.The greater BMI the patient have,the larger dosage may be needed to achieve the same serum progesterone concentration.The individual dosage of oral progesterone needed can be roughly calculated in the light of the result of this study.

Objective： To explore the relationship among body mass index （BMI）, dosage of progesterone （P） and serum progesterone concentration, and provide reference for the clinical use of oral progesterone. Methods： This was a random, open-label, prospective clinical trial. Eighty women meeting the criteria for enrollment were recruited from July 2010 to March 2011 in outpatient clinic of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and given oral progesterone therapy for consecutive 10 days. They were randomly assigned into four groups according to the different doses of progesterone： group A 100 mg/day, group B 200 mg/day, group C 300 mg/day and group D 400 mg/day. Results： Seventy four patients （92.5%, 74/80） accomplished the study. It can be observed that administration of different dosage of P could significantly increase serum P concentration （all P（0. 001）. And there was a positive correlation between the increase of P concentration and dosage （rp = 0. 613, P〈0. 001）. Furthermore, the medians of the increase of serum P concentration in 4 groups were 14.71 nmol/L in group A, 28.47 nmol/L in group B, 58.89 nmol/L in group C, 72.69 nmol/L in group D. When BMI〈24 kg/m2 （42 cases）, the median of the increase of P levels was 13.90 nmol/L, 37.22 nmol/L, 62.55 nmol/L, and 119.02 nmol/L in group A, B, C and D, respectively, while BMI ≥24 kg/m2 （32 cases）, the median of increase was 8.93 nmol/L, 24.82 nmol/L, 24.87 nmol/L, and 63.48 nmol/L, respectively. In addition, significant difference was found only in group D between women with BMI≥24 kg/m2 and with BMI≥24 kg/mz （P=0. 010）. Conclusions： Serum progesterone levels go up linearly with the dosage increasing. The greater BMI the patient have, the larger dosage may be needed to achieve the same serum progesterone concentration. The individual dosage of oral progesterone needed can be roughly calculated in the light of the result of this study.