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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter March 29, 2018

The impact of mild hypercholesterolemia on glycemic and hormonal profiles, menstrual characteristics and the ovarian morphology of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

  • Vasilios Pergialiotis EMAIL logo , Eftihios Trakakis , Charalampos Chrelias , Nikolaos Papantoniou and Erifili Hatziagelaki

Abstract

Background

The severity of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) has been clearly associated with insulin resistance, obesity and metabolic syndrome. The purpose of the present cross-sectional study is to investigate whether mild hypercholesterolemia alters the biochemical and clinical profile of PCOS patients.

Methods

Our study is based on a prospectively collected population of women of reproductive age who were diagnosed with PCOS according to the definition of the Rotterdam European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology/American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM/ESHRE) criteria. For the correlation analysis we used the non-parametric Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Partial correlation was also performed to control for potential confounders observed in the univariate analysis.

Results

Overall, 235 patients were included. Their mean age ranged between 14 and 45 years old and the body mass index (BMI) between 17 and 54. Women with mild hypercholesterolemia had a higher BMI and their fasting insulin was increased as well as indices of insulin resistance [Homeostatic model assessment (HOMA), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), Matsuda index] compared to women with PCOS with normal cholesterol levels. Correlation statistics suggested that the effect of serum lipids on the hormonal profile of patients was weak. Both low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) exerted a significant mild negative correlation to glucose and insulin. However, after controlling the results for BMI and age (the two variables that were found significantly different in the univariate analysis) we observed that this effect was non-significant.

Conclusion

Mild hypercholesterolemia does not affect the hormonal profile of patients with PCOS; hence, to date, there is no evidence to suggest its treatment for the correction of menstrual and hormonal abnormalities in PCOS women.

Author Statement

  1. Research funding: The authors state no funding involved.

  2. Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  3. Informed consent: Informed consent is not applicable. All data have been extracted by the electronic database of our department and our population has already been used for the publication of previous studies in the field of PCOS.

  4. Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institution Ethics Committee and is in agreement with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

References

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Received: 2018-1-7
Accepted: 2018-2-28
Published Online: 2018-3-29

©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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