Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To study the frequency of depression in women of reproductive age with different phenotypes of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

Materials and Methods: Sixty-eight women with diagnosed polycystic ovarian syndrome aged 18–44 and 30 practically healthy women of the comparable age. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS) were used to diagnose depression. According to the results of the HADS assessment, the patients were counseled by psychotherapist to confirm the presence of depression and to assess its severity. Patients from the main group were divided into 3 subgroups: patients with PCOS and visceral obesity of varying severity (BMI>25 kg/m², WC\TC>0.85); patients with PCOS and gluteal-femoral obesity (BMI>25 kg/m², WC\TC<0.85); patients with PCOS and normal body weight (BMI<25 kg/m²).

Results and Discussion: According to the study results, depression was diagnosed in 28.2% of patients in the main group, of which 14.7% had subclinical depression, and 13.5% had severe form. This indicator significantly exceeds the frequency of depression in the control group - 17.3%, of which subclinical depression is 9.3%, severe depression is 8%. The obtained results show that the frequency of depression in patients with PCOS exceeds the values detected in healthy women (χ²=5.75, P=0.01). When assessing the frequency of depression depending on the phenotype of patients with PCOS, it was found that the frequency of depression in patients with PCOS and visceral obesity was 24.7%, in patients with PCOS and gluteal-femoral obesity it was 12.3%, in patients with PCOS and normal weight - 19.7%. When analyzing the results, a direct correlation was determined between the level of depression according to the HADS scale and age (r=0.17; P<0.05) in patients with PCOS and visceral obesity, and by the logistic regression method it was confirmed that the development of depression in patients with PCOS and visceral obesity is associated with age over 40 years (OR =1.06; P<0.05; 95% CI 0.99–1.13).

Conclusion: The obtained results show that the frequency of depression in patients with PCOS exceeds the values detected in healthy women. One of the possible risk factors for the development of depression in patients with PCOS and visceral obesity is an age over 40 years.