Diagnosis and treatment of luteal phase deficiency: a Committee Opinion
Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Committee members:Clarisa Gracia, Tarun Jain, Suleena Kalra, Bruce Pier, Denny Sakkas, Belinda Yauger, Rebecca Flyckt, Torie C Plowden, Ryan Smith, Suneeta Senapati, Robert Brannigan, Amy Sparks, Jared Robins, Chevis N Shannon, Jessica Goldstein, Madeline Brooks, …
Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (2026). Diagnosis and treatment of luteal phase deficiency: a Committee Opinion. Fertility and sterility. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2026.06.014
Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Diagnosis and treatment of luteal phase deficiency: a Committee Opinion. Fertility and sterility. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2026.06.014
Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. "Diagnosis and treatment of luteal phase deficiency: a Committee Opinion." Fertility and sterility, 2026.
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RRM Academy Synopsis
Committee says luteal phase deficiency unproven as infertility cause
Critical to restorative reproductive medicine
A 2026 committee opinion from two reproductive medicine societies says luteal phase deficiency has not been shown to cause infertility on its own. The same holds for recurrent pregnancy loss. The committee calls diagnosis and treatment benefit contested.
Key Findings
The committee calls luteal phase deficiency (LPD) a clinical diagnosis, tied to a luteal phase of ≤10 days.
Three possible causes are listed: progesterone that lasts too short a time, progesterone at too low a level, or endometrial progesterone resistance.
The committee says LPD has been described alongside medical conditions and in women with normal periods who are fertile.
Several diagnostic measures have been proposed, and the committee says controversy surrounds them.
Even if LPD can be diagnosed accurately, the committee says the effect of treatment on outcomes is still debated.
Interpretation
The committee opinion sets out the shared view of two reproductive medicine societies. The committee credits progesterone with a role in implantation and early pregnancy. The opinion asks whether luteal phase deficiency stands on its own as a cause of infertility, apart from the conditions it often goes along with.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine evaluates before it treats and looks for the root cause behind an abnormal finding. Cycle charting records luteal phase length over many cycles. The committee's three possible causes read as questions an evaluation of a short luteal phase would ask.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Luteal phase deficiency (LPD) is a clinical diagnosis associated with abnormal luteal phase length of ≤10 days. Potential etiologies of LPD include inadequate progesterone duration, inadequate progesterone levels, or endometrial progesterone resistance. Luteal phase deficiency has been described in association with medical conditions, but also in fertile, normally menstruating women. Although progesterone is important for the process of implantation and early embryonic development, LPD has not been proven to be an independent entity causing infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss. Controversy exists regarding the multiple proposed measures for diagnosing LPD, and assuming it can be diagnosed accurately, whether treatment improves outcomes. This document replaces the document of the same name, last published in 2021 (Fertil Steril 2021;115(6):1416-23).
Clarisa Gracia, Tarun Jain, Suleena Kalra, Bruce Pier, Denny Sakkas, Belinda Yauger, Rebecca Flyckt, Torie C Plowden, Ryan Smith, Suneeta Senapati, Robert Brannigan, Amy Sparks, Jared Robins, Chevis N Shannon, Jessica Goldstein, Madeline Brooks
C Gracia, T Jain, S Kalra, B Pier, D Sakkas, B Yauger, Becky Flyckt, R Flyckt, T Plowden, R Smith, S Senapati, Bob Brannigan, Rob Brannigan, Bobby Brannigan, R Brannigan, A Sparks, J Robins, C Shannon, Jess Goldstein, J Goldstein, M Brooks
PMID 42414147 42414147 DOI 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2026.06.014 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2026.06.014 Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility et al. 2026, Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility 2026
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