Abnormal heart rate recovery after maximal cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing in polycystic ovary syndrome

Francesco Giallauria; Stefano Palomba; Teresa Cascella; Alessandra Vitelli; Luigi Maresca; Alessandra Grieco; Domenico Tafuri; Annamaria Colao; Gaetano Lombardi; Carlo Vigorito; Francesco Orio

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Endocrine Abstracts (2007) 14 P634

ECE2007 Poster Presentations (1) (659 abstracts)

Abnormal heart rate recovery after maximal cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing in polycystic ovary syndrome

Francesco Giallauria ¹ , Stefano Palomba ² , Teresa Cascella ³ , Alessandra Vitelli ¹ , Luigi Maresca ¹ , Alessandra Grieco ³ , Domenico Tafuri ⁴ , Annamaria Colao ³ , Gaetano Lombardi ³ , Carlo Vigorito ¹ & Francesco Orio ⁵

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Author affiliations

¹Department of Clinical Medicine, Cardiovascular and Immunological Sciences, Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, Institute of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Disease, “Federico II” University of Naples, Naples, Italy; ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy; ³Department of Molecular & Clinical Endocrinology and Oncology, “Federico II” University of Naples, Naples, Italy; ⁴Teaching and Methods of Sportive Activity, “Parthenope” University of Naples, Naples, Italy; ⁵Endocrinology, Faculty of Motor Science, “Parthenope” University of Naples and Department of Molecular & Clinical Endocrinology and Oncology, “Federico II” University of Naples, Naples, Italy.

Introduction and aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with an adverse metabolic and cardiovascular risk (CVR) profile, including: diabetes, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Heart rate recovery (HRR) is a measure of autonomic dysfunction and an abnormal HRR is also associated with increased mortality. To date, no evaluation of autonomic function in young PCOS women has been performed, therefore the aim of the present study was to evaluate the HRR in PCOS.

Patients and methods: The study was approved by the local Ethical Committee. Forty-eight PCOS patients matched with 48 healthy women mean age (21.7±2.2 vs. 21.9±1.8, yrs±SD, respectively) and body mass index (29.5±3.1 vs. 29.7±3.6, kg/m² ± SD, respectively). Hormonal and metabolic pattern, cardiopulmonary functional capacity, as expressed by: maximal oxygen consumption (VO_2max) and oxygen consumption at anaerobic threshold (VO_2AT), and autonomic function, as expressed by HRR, were evaluated.

Results: In PCOS women we observed a significant (P<0.001) abnormal HRR (12.7±2.1 vs. 20.8±3.1 beats/min), and a significant impairment of: VO_2max (17.9±2.3 vs. 29.0±3.9, ml/Kg/min) and VO_2AT (13.1±2.6 vs. 24.1±3.1, ml/Kg/min) compared to healthy women. In PCOS patients, abnormal HRR was inversely correlated to BMI (r=−0.700, P<0.0001), HOMA (r=−0.680, P<0.0001) and AUC_INS (r=−0.640, P<0.0001).

Conclusions: Our data are the first to demonstrate an abnormal HRR after maximal cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing in young overweight PCOS patients, adding HRR as a further potential marker of increased CVR in PCOS.