Correlations between Measurements of Body Adiposity and Metabolic Variables in Patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: A Case-Control Study

Abstract Objective: To study correlations between Insulin Resistance (IR) and Glucose Intolerance (GI) with body adiposity in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS women) and controls. Design, patients and Methods: A case-control study, including PCOS women (n=39) matched by Body Mass Index (BMI) and age to controls (n=35). We conducted Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT, 75g glucose), Homeostasis Model Assessment-estimated Insulin Resistance index (HOMA-IR), Electrical Bioimpedance (EB), Whole Body Densitometry (DXA), anthropometric measurements, and Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI). Results: In PCOS women, HOMA-IR showed strong positive association with Fat Mass (FM, r=0.7164), Android Fat (AF, r=0.7729), and Fat/Lean Mass Ratio (FM/LM, r=0.7198) obtained by DXA and anthropometric measurements: Waist Circumference (WC, r=0.7857), Hip Circumference (HC, r=0.7104), BMI (r=0.7423) and Waist-To-Height Ratio (WHtR, r=0.7979). Moderate association was identified between OGTT and FM (r=0.5261), android fat (AF, r=0.5296), FM/LM (r=0.5296), WHtR (r=0.5065) and BMI (r=0.5156). In PCOS women, HOMAIR showed moderate positive association with FM (r=0.6220) and FM/LM (r=0.6262) and negative with LM (r=-0.6220) obtained by EB. VAI presented strong (r=0.7004) and moderate (r= 0.6356) positive correlation with HOMA-IR and OGTT, respectively, in PCOS women. Subsequently, groups were subdivided into normal weight (BMI ≤ 24.9 Kg/m2) and overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0 Kg/m2). Among normal weight PCOS women, there was moderate correlation between OGTT and AF by DXA (r = 0.5308). Conclusions: Adiposity in PCOS women could be sufficiently evaluated by BMI, WHtR, and VAI. DXA is appropriate for evaluating normal weight PCOS women due to the increased metabolic risk associated with android fat. Keywords Polycystic ovary syndrome, Glucose metabolism disorders, Whole body densitometry, Electrical bioimpedance, Anthropometric measurements