Endocrinology & Metabolic Syndrome
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-1017
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-1017
+44 1478 350008
Sarantis Livadas
Metropolitan Hospital, Athens, Greece
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Endocrinol Metab Syndr
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) represents a moving spectrum of hormonal to metabolic abnormalities, as women with the syndrome are aging. Hormonal abnormalities, anovulation, and hyperandrogenic signs were predominant during the early years of PCOS and fade away with the years. Metabolic abnormalities and insulin resistance (IR) remain throughout the PCOS life cycle; however, it is unclear as to how they change, as women with the syndrome are aging. We have evaluated the changes in IR and its associations with clinical, biochemical, hormonal, and ultrasound findings in a large cohort of women with PCOS (1345) and controls (302), as they are aging. It was found that in PCOS, age was negatively and BMI positively associated with IR. Furthermore, when data were stratified with regard to the BMI status, a negative association of age with IR was found in lean, normal, and overweight patients, which was neutralized in obese patients. Free androgen index and BMI were positively associated with IR in all age quartiles. When IR values were plotted according to BMI subgroups at different age quartiles, a significant gradual decrease in IR was observed in normal and overweight but not obese women across age quartiles. This work shows for the first time that aging increases IR in obese but not in lean and overweight women with PCOS. As BMI and androgens are positively associated with HOMA-IR and androgens decline through time, it appears that if women with PCOS do not become obese they may exhibit a better metabolic profile during their reproductive years. Accordingly, the common belief that PCOS is leading to DM through years should be reconsidered in lean subjects. Furthermore, physicians should encourage life style modifications and weight loss to their young PCOS patients.
Email: sarntis@gmail.com