Gonadotropin trajectories among postmenopausal women not using hormone therapy.

Objective: While evidence suggests that gonadotropins may play an important role in aging-related changes in body composition and health outcomes, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) patterns have not been well characterized in older women. We characterized patterns of FSH and LH change over time after menopause.

Methods: In a sample of 291 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative OsteoPerio study who were not using hormone therapy, we estimated FSH and LH trajectories over a 20-year period using group-based trajectory modeling. Descriptive statistics identified differences according to hormone trajectory group.

Results: We estimated 3 FSH trajectories. The low FSH trajectory (36.1% of sample) showed had stable FSH, the moderate FSH trajectory (52.9%) showed FSH increased 30 years after menopause, and the high FSH trajectory (11.0%) showed FSH initially declined then increased 20 years after menopause. The moderate and high FSH trajectory groups were more likely to be never smokers, had lower measures of adiposity, and more severe hot flashes. We estimated 3 LH trajectories. The low LH trajectory (29.6%) showed LH declined over time, the moderate LH trajectory (56.0%) initially declined then increased 30 years after menopause, and the high LH trajectory (14.4%) initially decline then steeply increase 30 years after menopause. The moderate and high LH trajectory groups had lower measures of adiposity at baseline.

Conclusion: There is variability in gonadotropin levels during the postmenopausal period in women not using hormone therapy. Research is needed to study whether postmenopausal gonadotropin patterns are associated with aging-related outcomes.