Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Although menstrual irregularity, including oligomenorrhea (OM), is associated with insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism, the relationship between the severity of menstrual infrequency and clinical phenotypes in young women with OM is unclear. We evaluated whether a longer menstrual cycle length is associated with less favorable metabolic features in young women.

Methods/design: A total of 1296 young women (aged 15–39 years old) with a menstrual cycle length of greater than 40 days and 1634 regular cycling women voluntarily participated. Metabolic parameters, insulin sensitivity index, and testosterone levels were measured. Oligomenorrheic women were divided into two groups: i) severe OM (menstrual cycle length >60 days) and ii) mild OM (menstrual cycle length 40–60 days).

Results: Women with severe OM displayed higher levels of most metabolic parameters and higher testosterone levels compared to women with mild OM. Among obese subjects (BMI ≥25 kg/m²), women with severe OM had significantly higher levels of systolic blood pressure, insulin, cholesterol, and testosterone and lower insulin sensitivity indices compared to women with mild OM (even if they had similar BMI and waist circumference). Non-obese subjects displayed the same results. Severe OM was associated with metabolic syndrome (odds ratio 2.2, 95% CI 1.2–4.0) after adjustment for age, BMI, family history of diabetes, insulin sensitivity index, and free testosterone levels.

Conclusion: Oligomenorrheic women with a menstrual cycle length of greater than 60 days should be more closely monitored for metabolic syndrome than women with a menstrual cycle length 40–60 days.