2008, Volume 1, Issue 4, pp 415 – 422

Insulin resistance and fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.

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Authors and Affiliations

Correspondence to:Simona Fica M.D., University Emergency Hospital Elias, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department Marasesti 17, Bucharest 011461, Romania

Abstract

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) represents a common endocrinopathy, with anovulation and hyperandrogenism as cardinal symptoms. In recent years it has been recognized that insulin resistance is an intrinsec feature of the disorder and plays a central role in pathogenesis. PCOS is associated with important reproductive morbidity as shown by high prevalence of anovulatory infertility, spontaneous abortion, gestational diabetes and pre–eclampsia. The association of insulin resistance with this reproductive pathology has been well documented. Due to major implication of insulin resistance in PCOS pathogenesis, insulin reduction strategies were studied as a possible treatment for infertility in PCOS patients. Weight loss, even modest was proved to be a simple and efficient method to improve reproductive parameters in PCOS patients and should be recommended to all overweight and obese patients with infertility. Metformin was showed to induce ovulation, at least in a subset of patients with PCOS, but there are not unequivocal proves concerning its efficacy for pregnancies and live–birth rate, mainly because few trials studied this aspect. Therefore there are not enough evidences to recommend metformin for infertility treatment in PCOS. Few small studies with newer thiazolidindiones suggest their efficacy for ovulation induction, but further extensive studies are needed to confirm these results. In conclusion, reduction of insulin resistance was proved to ameliorate ovulation rate in PCOS patients, but strong evidences to sustain the utility of insulin–sensitizing drugs as a therapeutic option for infertility are lacking. Future studies are needed to elucidate these aspects and to characterize the particular subtype of patients with higher probability to respond to this treatment.

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About this article

PMC ID: 3018970
PubMed ID: 20108521
DOI: 

Article Publishing Date (print): 15-11-2008
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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