The Relationship between Endometrial Thickness and Anemia, Iron Status in Adolescent Females with Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding

Kim, Beom Soo; Won, Chong Bock; Lee, Ji Sung; Jeon, In Sang

Abstract

BACKGROUND
We performed this study to investigate the relationship between endometrial thickness and anemia in adolescent females with dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB).
METHODS
We investigated retrospectively the endometrial thickness and initial complete blood count (CBC) profile in 42 girls with DUB or other gynecologic problems (non-DUB). The endometrial thickness was compared between DUB group and non DUB group. The relationship between endometrial thickness and hemoglobin was elucidated in both groups. In DUB group the relationship between endometrial thickness and the state of anemia was investigated. Besides, the status of body iron was compared with the endometrial thickness.
RESULTS
At diagnosing time, each mean/median age was 15.1+/-0.4/15.0 years, 15.3+/-0.5/14.5 years in DUB and non-DUB groups. The endometrial thickness of DUB group was statistically significantly thicker than that of non DUB group (p=0.013). A statistically significant correlation was observed between the increase of endometrial thickness and the decrease of hemoglobin level in all the subjects (P=0.007). However, in the comparison of the DUB group only, the relationship between the endometrial thickness and the hemoglobin, hematocrit were not statistically significant (P=0.337, 0.213). In addition, the level of iron, total iron binding capacity, and ferritin were not statistically significantly related to the endometrial thickness (P=0.604, 0.459, 0.139).
CONCLUSION
The endometrium was thicker in adolescent females with DUB than those with other gynecologic problems. The anemia was proportionate to the endometrial thickness in all subjects of this study. However, in the DUB group only, the anemia and body iron status were not affected by the endometrial thickness.