Vaginal pH: A marker for menopause

INTRODUCTION: Menopause is suspected with age, cessation of menstruation for more than a year and presence of symptoms. The diagnosis of menopause is confirmed by follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels >40 IU/L. Few studies have focused on vaginal pH for menopausal diagnosis. It is a simple, non-invasive and inexpensive method for this purpose. AIM OF THE STUDY: The following study is to correlate the serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level with vaginal pH estimation in menopause. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in 173 women aged 31-60 years with menopausal symptoms who attended the Menopausal Clinic of our hospital from January 2012 to January 2013. Vaginal pH was measured using pH micro-meter strips and serum FSH levels were measured using immunoassay methods. The data obtained was then analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (version 17) and results were evaluated statistically by the Chi-square and Kappa tests. P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: According to our study of the 173 women studied, mean FSH level was 46.5 IU/L and mean vaginal pH was 5.3. If the menopausal hallmark is considered to be vaginal pH >4.5 and serum FSH ≥40 IU/L, the sensitivity of vaginal pH for menopausal diagnosis was 84.9% and of serum FSH is 77.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Vaginal pH is a simple, accurate and cost-effective tool that can be suggested as a suitable and better alternative to serum FSH estimation for the diagnosis of menopause.