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Log normal distribution of ovarian and placental steroid values in early human pregnancy

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Zusammenfassung

In Serumproben von 304 Patientinnen mit normalen Schwangerschaften zwischen der 4. und 17. SSW wurden die Konzentrationen von Östradiol, Progesteron und 17-Hydroxyprogesteron radioimmunologisch gemessen. Die Ergebnisse wurden statistisch analysiert, um die arithmetischen Mittelwerte sowie die 95%-Vertrauensbereiche (± zwei Standardabweichungen) für jedes Hormon zu ermitteln. Dabei zeigte sich, daß die Streuung der Meßwerte oberhalb der Mittelwerte größer als unterhalb der Mittelwerte war. Weiter ergab sich bei der Subtraktion von zwei Standardabweichungen vom jeweiligen Mittelwert oft ein negativer Wert oder einer, der nahe an der Abszisse lag. Deshalb überprüften wir die Daten für jedes Hormon mit dem Chiquadrat-Test auf Normalverteilung (Gaußsche Verteilung). In alien Fällen ergaben sich signifikante Unterschiede (p < 0,001) zur Normalverteilung. Durch eine lineare Transformation mit Hilfe der Rankit-Analyse stellten wir eine Lognormalverteilung unserer Daten fest. Außerdem konnten durch die Rankit-Analyse auf graphischem Wege für jedes Hormon klinisch verwertbare Normalbereiche festgelegt werden, die den 95%-Vertrauensbereichen entsprechen.

Summary

Concentrations of estradiol, progesterone, 17OH-progesterone were measured by radioimmunoassay in individual serum samples obtained from a group of 304 women with normal gestations between the 4th and 17th week of pregnancy. Values obtained underwent statistical analysis in order to determine the arithmetic mean and the 95% normal range (± two standard deviations). It was noted hereby that the spread of values above the mean was greater than that below the mean, and that very often the mean minus two standard deviations was either close to zero or negative. Therefore, the data for each hormone were analyzed for normality of the distributions by the chi-square test. For each hormone the chi-square test was significantly different (p < 0.001) from the normal distribution (Gaussian). Subsequently, linear transformation by rankit analysis revealed the log-normal distribution of our data. Furthermore, rankit analysis was used as a graphical method to delineate a useful clinical range, which includes the mean and meaningful 95% confidence limits for estradiol, progesterone, and 17OH-progesterone in early normal pregnancies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitäts-Frauenklinik Düsseldorf (Direktor: Prof. Dr. L. Beck), Moorenstraße 5, D-4000, Düsseldorf, Germany

    W. Distler, U. Stollenwerk, J. Morgenstern & H. Albrecht

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  1. W. Distler
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  2. U. Stollenwerk
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  3. J. Morgenstern
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  4. H. Albrecht
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Distler, W., Stollenwerk, U., Morgenstern, J. et al. Log normal distribution of ovarian and placental steroid values in early human pregnancy. Arch. Gynecol. 226, 217–225 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02108902

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02108902

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