Biochemical predictor for polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), one of the frequent endocrine metabolic conditions that affect women of reproductive age, is illustrated by hyperandrogenemia, sparse or amenorrhoeic period, and unproductiveness, in addition to metabolic abnormalities such as obesity, insulin resistance, anomalous glucose tolerance, and dyslipidemia, with enduring vulnerability to diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, tumors etc. In this study, 185 female PCOS patients were recruited following 2003 “Rotterdam criteria”. Their hematological, biochemical and endocrine characteristics were compared against age-matched 36 healthy female subjects. Majority of the PCOS patients were suffering from oligomenorrhea. BMI and waist-to-hip ratio altered among PCOS patients in comparison to healthy subjects in this study. Significant increase in leukocyte count among PCOS patients in comparison to healthy subjects may discharge inflammatory mediators causing prooxidant microenvironment, and significantly increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio among PCOS patients. Significant alteration in fasting blood sugar (FBS) and serum insulin level, development of insulin resistance and alteration in insulin sensitivity amplified PCOS symptoms causing ovarian dysfunction. Dyslipidemia, including increased LDL-cholesterol, cholesterol, triglyceride levels in PCOS patients in our study is a familiar pattern. Except unbound T₄ (thyroxine), no change was observed among studied remaining reproductive hormones such as thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), leutenizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and prolactin levels. The area under the curve of uric acid to creatinine ratio was used to discriminate between cases and controls and observed an of AUC=0.938 indicating excellent diagnostic ability at a cut-off  > 4.68 with 87.5% sensitivity  and specificity of  88.9%  in diagnosing PCOS. Correlation analysis also revealed that uric acid to creatinine ratio was significantly associated with platelet count, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, fasting blood sugar, LDL-cholesterol and FSH.