Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive period, and it has been considered as a risk factor in cardiovascular disease due to increased prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obesity, and insulin resistance. Platelets have a pivotal role in the development of atherothrombosis. Platelet distribution width (PDW) is a marker of platelet size that reflects the heterogeneity of the platelets. This arithmetical index routinely analyses as part of a whole blood count without additional costs. In this study we purposed whether PCOS associated with PDW.

Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study of 119 healthy women with regular menses and 133 women with PCOS age- and BMI-matched. Waist and hip circumferences, body fat percentage, CBC, plasma fasting glucose, insulin, high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), lipids, and total testosterone levels were measured. In multivariate linear regression model, PCOS was defined as a dependent variable and PDW and other platelet indices such as mean platelet volume and platelet large cell ratio were determined as independent variables.

Results: PDW levels were significantly higher in the PCOS group compared with the control group (13.648±0.424% vs 13.447±0.489%; P=0.003) PDW levels were not correlated with hs-CRP, HOMA-IR, and BMI (P>0.005). According to linear regression model, only PDW was associated with PCOS (R²=0.05, β=0.177, P=0.022).

Conclusions: PDW levels were significantly higher in women with PCOS; however this index was correlated with neither HOMA-IR nor hs-CRP which is recognized as a cardiovascular risk factor in PCOS. PDW was associated with PCOS; however higher PDW levels cannot be considered as a cardiovascular risk factor in PCOS.