Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The prevalence of clinical obesity in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is 50%. Weight loss is effective at enhancing insulin sensitivity, reducing hyperandrogenaemia, improving hirsutism and restoring menstrual regularity and fertility in PCOS. However, women with PCOS appear to be less responsive to weight loss interventions including some bariatric surgical procedures. The aim of this study was to compare weight loss outcomes of gastric bypass surgery in women with and without PCOS.

Methods: We performed a retrospective, comparative cohort analysis of weight loss, blood pressure (BP) and HbA1c following gastric bypass surgery in women with and without PCOS aged 18–50 years matched for age (±5 years) and preoperative BMI (±5 kg/m²). We report results from 56 women, 28 with and 28 without PCOS.

Results: Mean preoperative age was 28.5 years, weight 137.5 kg, BMI 50.0 kg/m², systolic and diastolic BP 135 and 85 mm Hg respectively, and HbA1c 37 mmol/mol; there were no significant differences between the two groups. There was significant weight loss following bariatric surgery with no statistical difference between groups (see Fig. 1). Likewise, there was significant reduction in BMI, BP and HbA1c with no significant difference between groups.

Conclusion: Gastric bypass surgery in obese women with PCOS results in significant reductions in weight, BMI, BP and HbA1c, similar to women without PCOS.