Table 1.
Clinical, hormonal and metabolic characteristics in women with PCOS, stratified according to the response of adrenal androgens to ACTH in normal responders-NR, intermediate responders-IR and high responders-HR, and in healthy controls
| Variables | PCOS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR (n=27) | IR (n=43) | HR (n=20) | P valuea | Controls (n=45) | |
| Age (yrs) | 26.3±6.0 | 23.8±4.6 | 26.8±6.5 | 0.09 | 23.7±10.3 |
| Body weight (kg) | 84.7±25.4 | 78.1±18.1 | 87.2±20.8 | 0.231 | 79.5±22.6 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 31.7±8.7 | 30.0±7.0 | 32.6±7.6 | 0.447 | 30.0±8.3 |
| ≤25 kg/m2 | 8 (31%) | 14 (33%) | 6 (30%) | 0.436b | |
| >25-≤30 kg/m2 | 2 (7%) | 5 (11%) | 3 (15%) | ||
| >30 kg/m2 | 17 (62%) | 24 (56%) | 11 (55%) | ||
| Waist circumference (cm) | 93.1±18.3 | 88.7±14.9 | 96.4±18.3 | 0.239 | 91.4±20.4 |
| Fatty mass (%) | 63.6±10.0 | 67.8±11.6 | 60.4±10.3 | 0.323 | 60.2±9.9 |
| Free fatty mass (%) | 39.9±11.1 | 32.2±11.6 | 36.8±10.3 | 0.308 | 39.8±9.9 |
| Systolic bood pressure (mmHg) | 123±17 | 128±11 | 123±14 | 0.216 | 128±14 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 77±13 | 78±10 | 79±9 | 0.799 | 79±7 |
| Hirsutism (Ferriman-Gallwey score) | 10.0±6.9*** | 12.1±6.9*** | 11.4±7.7*** | 0.576 | 2.2±1.0 |
| Menses (n° of in the previous 6 months) | 3.7±2.3*** | 3.8±2.3*** | 3.5±2.1*** | 0.876 | 6.0±0.2 |
| Fasting 0800-0830h plasma: | |||||
| Total testosterone (ng/mL) | 0.66±0.26*** | 0.67±0.18*** | 0.70±0.26*** | 0.818 | 0.48±0.16 |
| FAI | 2.44±1.09*** | 2.99±1.56*** | 2.95±1.50*** | 0.282 | 1.51±0.87 |
| Androstenedione (ng/dL) | 382±163*** | 373±138*** | 401±119*** | 0.799 | 201±57 |
| 17OH-progesterone (ng/dL) | 157±77 | 156±107 | 158±138 | 0.480 | 127±85 |
| DHT (ng/mL) | 0.22±0.13*** | 0.21±0.09*** | 0.22±0.14*** | 0.983 | 0.16±0.07 |
| SHBG (nmol/L) | 31.4±15.6* | 28.6±17.9* | 27.9±13.3* | 0.706 | 39.9±18.4 |
| 5α-DHT/Total testosterone | 0.39±0.47 | 0.34±0.16 | 0.36±0.26 | 0.775 | 0.34±0.14 |
| Oral glucose tolerance test: | |||||
| GlucoseAUC (mg/dL.min−1) | 19,865±4,545 | 19,953±3,663 | 19,562±3,109 | 0.944 | 21,913±3,817 |
| InsulinAUC (μIU/mL.min−1) | 12,348±8,328 | 12,126±11,650 | 16,875±12,606* | 0.354 | 9,318±5,988 |
| QUICKI | 0.341±0.050 | 0.350±0.052 | 0.332±0.030* | 0.320 | 0.361±0.042 |
| ISI | 5.90±5.37 | 7.11±6.30 | 5.34±4.39* | 0.477 | 8.47±5.69 |
| Total-cholesterol (mg/dL) | 179.4±30.0 | 174.2±35.9 | 191.0±43.0* | 0.525 | 169.0±19.9 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mg/dL) | 55.3±16.6 | 53.7±14.3 | 46.4±13.6 #, §, * | 0.061 | 56.4±15.2 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dL) | 102.8±50.3 | 86.6±46.8 | 88.7±36.7 | 0.449 | 97.4±51.5 |
| ALT (U/L) | 20.7±3.8 | 22.1±7.8 | 24.0±8.4 | 0.292 | 19.1±5.2 |
| AST (U/L) | 22.4±8.2 | 25.6±17.1 | 30.8±23.3 | 0.243 | 21.2±10.5 |
Data are means ± SD.
Comparison among the three groups of PCOS (NR, IR, HR) by one-way ANOVA;
comparison by two-tailed Fisher’s exact test.
P< 0.05,
P< 0.001 for post-hoc comparison between NR, IR or HR and controls.
P< 0.05 for post-hoc comparison between HR and NR.
P< 0.05 for post-hoc comparison between HR and IR.
FAI, free androgen index; DHT, dihydrotestosterone; SHBG, sex hormone binding globulin; AUC, area under the curve of the oral glucose tolerance test, calculated by the trapezoidal rule.
To convert to SI units, multiply total testosterone by 0.0347 (result in nmol/L), androstenedione by 0.0349 (result in nmol/L), 17-hydroxyprogesterone by 0.0303 (result in nmol/L), DHT by 3.467 (result in nmol/L), glucose by 0.0555 (result in mmol/L), insulin by 6.945 (result in pmol/L), Total- and HDL-cholesterol by 0.0259 (result in mmol/L) and triglycerides by 0.0113 (result in mmol/L)