URINARY OESTROGENS AND NEURAL 17-OXOSTEROIDS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN BANTU WITH AND WITHOUT HEPATIC DISEASE

Abstract

SUMMARY A comparison of oestrogen and neutral 17-oxosteroid excretion in normal Bantu and White subjects shows that the Bantu tends to have a higher total oestrogen excretion, a different oestrogen fractional pattern, and a lower total 17-oxosteroid excretion. In disease there are further differences in oestrogen pattern, the Bantu excreting more oestradiol-17β. 17-Oxosteroids are uniformly decreased and reach very low levels in primary carcinoma of the liver. White cirrhotic patients show an increase in the oestriol fraction. These differences in oestrogenandrogen metabolic balance may be of importance in view of the different disease patterns in the two racial groups.