Elevated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Previous studies have indicated that women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are affected by hypertriglyceridemia and low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) level. However, most of these studies did not control for confoundingfactors such as body mass index (BMI) or differences in ethnicity. Therefore, we compared the lipid data for 26 women with PCOS with those for 1428 female control participants of the Prospective Cardiovascular Miinster (PRO-CAM) study who did not use hormonal contraceptives and were of similar age. Data were adjusted for age, BMI and ethnicity. Women with PCOS had higher total cholesterol (5.55 ± 1.24 vs. 4.99 ± 0.88 mmol/l, p < 0.05) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (3.61 ± 1.19 vs. 3.08± 0.82 mmol/l,(p < 0.05) than the control subjects. Compared with the women in the control population, those with PCOS more frequently had triglyceride levels exceeding 2.3 mmol/l (11.5 vs. 1.6%, p< 0.001), LDL-C levels exceeding 4.2 mmol/l (30.8 vs. 12.1, p<0.01), and HDL-C levels below 1.2 mmol/l (46.2 vs. 15.3%, p < 0.001). We conclude that dys-lipidemia is found more frequently in women with PCOS, independently of the excess weight that is often found in this patient group.

Key Words:

• hyperandrogenism
• hypercholesterolemia
• cardiovascular risk factors
• obesity
• High-Density Lipoproteins
• Low-Density Lipoproteins