Endocrine Abstracts

Insulin resistance is possibly playing an underlying pathogenic role in the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and although is not a part of its definition, it appears in 50-90% of PCOS women. Polycystic ovary syndrome is also frequently associated with obesity; women suffering of PCOS seem to be at a great risk of developing a metabolic syndrome.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a population of 40 women with PCOS and to establish a relationship between this syndrome and insulin resistance.

Material and method: A retrospective study was carried out with 40 women diagnosed with PCOS in our clinic. The patients underwent complete clinical and biochemical measures, including fasting glicemia and insulinemia, lipid profile and total plasmatic testosterone. We appreciated insulin resistance by calculating HOMA index and the metabolic syndrome was appreciated using the updated ATP III (2005) criteria.

Results: Insulin resistance appeared in 55% cases. Prevalence of the MS in our group study was 40% (16 patients out of 40), near 2-fold higher than that of the control group. Except for one, the patients with PCOS and MS were also insulin resistant. Central obesity and low levels of HDL-cholesterol were present in 100%, respectively 87.5% of cases diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. High blood pressure appeared in 68.75% of these patients; high levels of triglicerides and fasting glicemia >100 mg/dl were present in 37.5% of cases.

Conclusions: We conclude that the MS is more common in women with PCOS than i Central obesity has a good correlation both with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome appearance. Abdominal obesity and low levels of HDL cholesterol were the most prevalent individual components of the metabolic syndrome.

We found no other correlation between the independent criteria for MS and insulin resistance.

There was no correlation between the metabolic parameters and the biochemical androgenism expressed by total plasmatic testosterone.