No abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrinological disorder with lipid disturbances leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations including menstrual irregularities, infertility, obesity and hyperandrogenism. This study aimed to determine the levels of lipid profile and sex hormones and its effect on PCOS from a State in southern India. This comparative hospital-based study was conducted in the State of Karnataka, India from June 2019 to January 2020. 57 age-matched PCOS and 67 healthy controls were enrolled for the study. Fasting glucose, insulin, lipid profile and sex hormone levels were analyzed after taking informed consent from all participants. The mean age of patients with PCOS was 25.05 ± 6.04 years and the mean age of subjects in the control group was 27.36 ± 7.08 years. Lipid profile showed statistically significant increased levels of triglyceride 147.3±86.6 (p<0.05) and decreased levels of HDL 52.2±8.7 (p<0.05) whereas hormones LH and testosterone were significantly higher in women with PCOS when compared to controls. The altered lipid profile, sex hormone and insulin levels exhibit a key role in the pathophysiology of PCOS that affects health. Insulin resistance is found to be linked with dyslipidemia in PCOS. Our findings suggest that the differences found may play a key role in the pathophysiology of PCOS which in turn affects the health and therefore it is advisable to emphasize the necessity for screening insulin resistance and perform early and periodic examination of lipid profile and sex hormones in women with PCOS to reduce complications.