Increased In:

• Alcoholism (related to suppressed secretion from the pituitary gland)
• Castration (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased testosterone levels)
• Gonadal failure (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased estrogen or testosterone levels)
• Gonadotropin-secreting pituitary tumors (related to oversecretion by tumor cells)
• Klinefelter’s syndrome (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased estrogen or testosterone levels)
• Menopause (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased estrogen levels)
• Orchitis (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased testosterone levels)
• Precocious puberty in children (related to oversecretion from the pituitary gland)
• Primary hypogonadism (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased estrogen or testosterone levels; failure of testes or ovaries to produce sex hormones)
• Reifenstein’s syndrome (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving familial partial resistance to testosterone levels)
• Turner’s syndrome (oversecretion related to feedback mechanism involving decreased estrogen or testosterone levels)

Decreased In:

• Anorexia nervosa (related to suppressive effects of severe caloric restriction on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis)
• Anterior pituitary hypofunction (underproduction resulting from dysfunctional pituitary gland)
• Hemochromatosis (hypogonadotropic hypogonadism related to absence of the gonadal stimulating pituitary hormones, estrogen, and testosterone; iron deposits in pituitary may affect normal production of FSH)
• Hyperprolactinemia (related to suppressive effect on estrogen production)
• Hypothalamic disorders (decreased production in response to lack of hypothalamic stimulators)
• Polycystic ovary disease (Stein-Leventhal syndrome) (suppressed secretion related to feedback mechanism involving increased estrogen levels)
• Pregnancy (related to elevated estrogen levels)
• Sickle cell anemia (although primary testicular dysfunction is mainly associated with sickle cell disease, related to testicular microinfarcts, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism has been reported in some men with sickle cell disease)