Cerebral white matter lesions and silent cerebral infarcts in postmenopausal women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Objectives: The association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and cardiovascular disease remains unclear. Our objective was to examine the relation of PCOS with cerebrovascular disease measured by brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as white matter lesions (WMLs) and silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs).

Methods: Seventy postmenopausal women with PCOS and 140 controls participated in the case–control, cross-sectional study. Clinical, anthropometric, hormonal and metabolic parameters were measured. WMLs and SCIs were evaluated by brain MRI.

Results: Compared with controls, postmenopausal women with PCOS had higher mean body mass index, larger waist hip ratio, higher level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, free androgen index and lower sex hormone-binding globulin level. The PCOS group had a significantly higher prevalence of WMLs (40% versus 22%, p = 0.009), and SCIs (17% versus 7%, p = 0.032) compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Postmenopausal women with PCOS are associated with WMLs and SCIs.

Chinese abstract

目的: 多囊卵巢综合征（PCOS）与心血管疾病的关系尚不明确。我们的目的是观察脑血管疾病与PCOS的关系, 脑血管疾病由脑部核磁共振成像（MRI）诊断为脑白质病变（WMLs）和无症状性脑梗塞（SCIs）。

方法: 本研究为病例对照、横断面研究, 共70名PCOS绝经后女性和140名对照患者参加。测量临床指标、人体测量学指标、激素和代谢指标。WMLs和SCIs由脑MRI检测。

结果: 与对照组相比, 绝经后PCOS女性平均体质量指数、腰臀比、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇水平、游离雄激素指数较高, 性激素结合球蛋白水平较低。PCOS组WMLs（40% vs 22%, p = 0.009）和SCIs（17% vs 7%, p = 0.032）发生率显著高于对照组。

结论: 绝经后PCOS妇女与WMLs和SCIs相关。

• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• silent cerebral infarcts
• white matter lesions

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. This study was supported by the health and medicine foundation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China (No. 15BJZ10).