The clinical characteristics of Korean women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Park, Hwi Ra; Oh, Jee Young; Hong, Young Sun; Sung, Yeon Ah; Lee, Hyejin; Cheong, Hye Won

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by chronic anovulation and hyperandrogenism and this malady arises in 5~10% of reproductive women. There may be significant ethnic and racial variations in the clinical presentation of PCOS. The current study is aimed to define the clinical characteristics, including the metabolic features, of Korean women with PCOS.
METHODS
We recruited 156 patients with PCOS and 252 healthy regular cycling women as controls between March 2003 and May 2006. The diagnosis of PCOS was made according to the criteria of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in 2003. The anthropometric measurements including weight, height, waist circumference, and physical examination for the modified Ferriman-Gallwey hirsutism scoring scale were performed. Reproductive hormones, blood lipids and standard 75g oral glucose tolerance tests were done to assess glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity.
RESULTS
Twenty six percent of the women with PCOS were obese and 6.4% of them had hirsutism. One of the 156 women (0.6%) with PCOS was newly diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and 25 of them (16.0%) had impaired glucose tolerance. The triglyceride levels and plasma glucose levels at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minute and the plasma insulin levels at 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after initiating the oral glucose tolerance test in women with PCOS were significantly higher compared to those values for the controls. The HOMA-IR was significantly higher in the women with PCOS compared to the controls, even after adjusting for age and the body mass index.
CONCLUSIONS
Obesity and clinical hyperandrogenism were not frequent in Korean women with PCOS, but this population did display distinct insulin resistance.