Endocrine Abstracts

Background: PCOS is one of the most common disorders affecting at least 5–10% of women of reproductive age. Increased prevalance of autoimmune thyroiditis and goiter were reported in PCOS patients. This study investigated the prevalance of hypothyroidism, thyroid autoimmunity, ultrasonographic features and presence of nodules in PCOS patients and compare them with the control group. We also aimed to detect correlation of thyroid volume (TV) with serum IGF1 levels in patients with PCOS.

Method: Seventy PCOS patients and 84 age matched controls were enrolled. Patient group and the control group were compared with each other according to hormonal parameters, anthropometric measures, thyroid volume, echogenicity on USG and autoimmunity. We also investigated the correlation between TV and IGF1 level in the PCOS group.

Results: BMI, Ferriman–Gallwey score (FGS), fasting insulin level, DHEA-S, total and free testosterone, LH, thyroid volume and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels were significantly higher in PCOS patients compared to the control group. Thyroid volume was similar in patients with or without insulin resistance diagnosed with HOMA-IR. There was no difference according to prevalence of hypothyroidism or ultrasonographic features, in between the groups. We have detected a positive and significant correlation between TV and BMI. We have found that there was no meaningful correlation between the TV and serum IGF1 levels.

Conclusion: This is the first study about thyroid volume and IGF1 correlation in those group of patients. There is need for further studies with lager number of patients.