Title: DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN NORMAL PREPUBERTY AND HYPOGONADOTROPHISM IN BOYS: CONSIDERATION OF HOURLY MEAN LH CONCENTRATIONS
Abstract: We compared 12 prepubertal boys aged ≥ 12.5 years (mean ± SEM = 13.30 ± 0.16) with 11 male patients with idiopathic hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (IHH) to assess how nocturnal LH concentrations could best be used to differentiate between the two groups. LH levels were measured at 10 or 20 minute intervals for a six hour period commencing one hour after sleep onset. The table shows mean LH levels over each one hour period and over the total six hours (O/N) for each group. Mean LH levels were significantly higher in the prepubertal boys than the IHH patients (p < 0.02, t-test), although only the overall mean value was discriminatory. The maximum hourly mean LH value for each subject reflects LH pulse amplitude and/or frequency. The lowest level of this value was 0.50 U/l for the normal prepubertal subjects, compared with the highest in the IHH group of 0.45 U/l. This value may be of use in the investigation of male clinical prepuberty.