Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogenous disease with well established metabolic abnormalities among women of reproductive age. There are various diagnostic criteria to define and establish PCOS. However, there are some conflicting data regarding the the optimal diagnostic criteria for PCOS and the metabolic consequences. We evaluated the clinical, endocrine and metabolic features between main PCOS phenotypes according to different diagnostic criteria.

Methods: One hundred seventy-five consecutive women with PCOS, 41 ovulatory women with idiopathic hirsutism and 109 healty, non-hirsute, ovulatory controls were enrolled. Hirsutism was defined by a value of ≥ 8 using the modified Ferriman–Gallwey. Ovulatory function, ovarian sonography, gonadotropins, testosteron, DHEAS, 17 OH progesteron, oral glucose tolerance test, fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistence, lipids, body mass index, waist circumference, frequency of metabolic syndrome were detected.

Results: In total 175 women who fullfilled the Rotterdam 2003 criteria were diagnosed with PCOS. Of these, 121 (69%) had both androgen excess and ovulatory dysfunction and met the NIH criteria. The remaining 54 (31%) had PCO confirmed by ultrasonography with either androgen excess or ovulatory dysfunction. There were 41 ovulatory women with only hirsutism, and 109 healty, non-hirsute, ovulatory women. Among groups, body mass index, waist circumference, levels of testosteron, DHEAS, triglyceride, insülin, homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) index were higher in NIH group. Also prevalence of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR>3) and metabolic syndrome were higher as well.

Conclusions: NIH criteria has detected patients with higher risk for insulin resistence and metabolic syndrome.