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ABSTRACT
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among women of reproductive-aged, and may be associated with multiple risk factors leading to cardiovascular diseases. Despite the rising rate of cardiovascular disease among these women, empirical evidence that indicated the association between PCOS and heart disease is scarce in our setting. It is not exactly known what proportions of women with PCOS are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. This study seeks to determine the proportion of women with PCOS who have cardiovascular risk factors and their association with body mass index in a cohort of women with PCOS. A total of 90 women between 18-45 years diagnosed with PCOS at the Gynaecology clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, and 50 fertile women between the ages of 18-45 years (controls) were recruited for the study. Serum sex hormones, lipid profile, cardiac, inflammatory parameters and atherogenic indices were determined using spectrophotometric, Enzyme linked Immunoassay and serological methods respectively. Data were analyzed using Students’t-test, analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient. Some 26/90(28.9%) of PCOS subjects had elevated levels of hs-CRP,12/90(13.3%) had elevated levels of atherogenic index of plasma lipid and 8/90(8.9%) had elevated levels of lipid accumulation products. AIP (r=0.712,p<0.001), LAP(r=0.764,p<0.001), and hsCRP(r=0.666, p<0.001) correlated positively with body mass index among women with PCOS. Although LAP (r=0.876,p<0.001) and hs-CRP (r=0.477,p<0.005) correlated positively with BMI among control subjects, the correlation between AIP and BMI was not significant among control subjects. Findings suggest that Nigerian women with PCOS might be at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. These subjects may benefit from routine evaluation of cardiovascular risk factors to identify those at risk of these diseases.
