HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: dc07-2190v1 31/6/1237    most recent Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sam, S. Articles by Dunaif, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sam, S. Articles by Dunaif, A. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Metabolic Phenotype in the Brothers of Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Susan Sam, MD^*, Andrea D Coviello, MD, Yeon-Ah Sung, MD, Richard S Legro, MD and Andrea Dunaif, MD^*

^*Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Feinberg, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Nutrition, Boston University, Boston, MA
Division of Endocrinology, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA

a-dunaif{at}northwestern.edu

ABSTRACT

Objective: Hyperandrogenemia, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia demonstrate familial aggregation in the female first-degree relatives of women with PCOS suggesting that these defects are heritable. Hyperandrogenemia also appears to be the male reproductive phenotype. We performed this study to test the hypothesis that brothers of women with PCOS have similar metabolic defects to their proband sisters.

Research Design and Methods: This was a prospective case-control study performed at four Academic Medical Centers in United States. Fasting blood was obtained from 196 Non-Hispanic White brothers of women with PCOS and 169 control men of comparable age, body mass index (BMI), and ethnicity to brothers. A separate analysis was performed by study site to assess potential regional variations in metabolic parameters.

Results: Overall, brothers of women with PCOS had significantly higher total (P=0.001) and LDL cholesterol (P=0.01) as well as triglyceride levels (P=0.01) compared to control men, although there were regional variations in these differences. There were significant positive correlations between brothers and their sisters with PCOS for total (=0.2, P=0.009) and LDL cholesterol (=0.3, P=0.001) and triglyceride (=0.2, P=0.05) levels. Brothers also had significantly higher fasting insulin levels and homeostatic index of insulin resistance (P=0.02 for both comparisons) compared to control men.

Conclusions: Brothers of women with PCOS have dyslipidemia as well as evidence for insulin resistance similar to their proband sisters with PCOS. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some metabolic abnormalities in PCOS are heritable and are not sex-specific.

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?