Effect of obesity on thiol/disulfide balance in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the hypothesis that thiol/disulfide balance is similar in patients with PCOS with and without obesity.Material and Methods: This was a prospective study. Seventy-eight patients with PCOS were included in the study. A diagnosis of PCOS was made according to the Rotterdam criteria. The patients were divided into two groups as obese [n = 41, body mass index (BMI) >= 30 kg/m2] and non-obese (n = 37, BMI >18.5 and <30 kg/m2).Results: Native thiol and total thiol values were significantly lower in the oxidative stress test in the non-obese group than in the obese group (p = 0.021 and p = 0.019, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in other thiol-disulfide parameters between the groups. Luteinizing hormone (r =-0.293, p = 0.09), total thiol (r =-0.321, p = 0.04), native thiol (r =-0.330, p = 0.03) and disulfide (r =-0.272, p = 0.16) rates were found to be statistically significantly negatively correlated with BMI.Discussion: Obesity in PCOS affects thiol-disulfide hemostasis. There is a negative correlation between BMI and oxidative stress markers.