Rapid urinary LH assay for prediction of ovulation

Abstract

The results of the cervical mucus score (CMS), basal body temperature (BBT) and a rapid urine luteinizing hormone (LH) assay by haemagglutination immunoassay were compared with plasma LH radioimmunoassay in 28 ovulatory cycles. There was a good correlation of the CMS peak with the plasma LH peak while the urine LH peak usually occurred one day later. The first day when the CMS was ≥8 occurred within ± 1 day of the plasma LH peak in 89.3% of cycles. The first day when the urine LH was >100 iu/l occurred within ± 1 day of the plasma LH peak in all the cycles. BBT nadir could be identified in only 82% of cycles and it coincided with the plasma LH peak in only 28.6% of cases. These findings suggest that both the CMS and the rapid urine LH assays are acceptable methods for determining the time of ovulation while the BBT is not useful.