Estrogen, menstrual cycle phases, and psychopathology in women suffering from schizophrenia.

Background: Estrogen has been hypothesized to have a protective and antipsychotic-like effect in women at risk for schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between menstrual cycle and/or estrogen levels and psychotic symptoms in a sample of women with schizophrenia.

Method: One hundred and twenty-five premenopausal women with schizophrenia and regular menses were examined.

Estrogen as an adjuvant therapy to antipsychotics does not prevent relapse in women suffering from schizophrenia: results of a placebo-controlled double-blind study.

The expected therapeutic effect of estrogen as an adjunct treatment to antipsychotics in women suffering from schizophrenia for relapse prevention was to be tested under real-life conditions. A multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over study based on an A-B-A-B (and/or B-A-B-A) design was applied. Forty-six hypoestrogenic women with schizophrenia hospitalized for the first time or repeatedly were included in the study.

Plasma concentrations of estradiol in women suffering from schizophrenia treated with conventional versus atypical antipsychotics.

Background: Low estrogen levels leading to an elevated rate of menstrual dysfunctions such as amenorrhea and irregular menstruation have been described in women with schizophrenia and have often been attributed to antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. However, there is some evidence that "hypoestrogenism" in schizophrenic women does not occur exclusively under medication with hyperprolactinemia-inducing antipsychotics. While the precise mechanism of low estrogen levels in schizophrenic women has not been elucidated yet, "hypoestrogenism" is of clinical relevance because estrogen seems to endow an antipsychotic-like effect in schizophrenia and thus positively affect the course of illness in schizophrenic women.

Cortisol and cortisone in human follicular fluid and serum and the outcome of IVF treatment.

Background: The glucocorticoid status of ovarian follicular fluid has been linked to oocyte quality. The aim of this study was to examine whether the concentrations of cortisone and cortisol and their calculated ratios in the follicular fluid and serum samples are predictive of IVF outcome.

Methods: In the prospective study of 387 patients (420 treatment cycles) undergoing IVF treatment the concentrations of cortisone and cortisol were measured with specific assays, and their calculated ratios in the follicular fluid and serum samples obtained after ovarian stimulation and induced ovulation were determined.

Acute psychiatric admission and menstrual cycle phase in women with schizophrenia.

The clinical observation of a possible relation between the phases of the menstrual cycle and psychotic illness dates well back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. This relation is considered to provide further evidence for the protective effect of oestrogens in schizophrenic women and is summarised by the so-called oestrogen hypothesis. In addition, the hypoestrogenism hypothesis postulates a hypofunction of the gonads in women with schizophrenia with subsequent oestrogen deficiency syndrome.