What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Case-Control. Population: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) (n=77). Intervention: Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) vs. Healthy controls. Primary outcome: Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) (p=0.015).

What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to examine the relationship between dietary inflammatory index and cardiometabolic risk factors in women with PCOS.

May 8, 2026

Association Between Dietary Inflammatory Index and Cardiometabolic Risk in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Key Result

Higher Dietary Inflammatory Index scores were positively associated with adverse cardiometabolic markers, including fasting serum glucose (β = 0.429, p = 0.001) and waist-to-hip ratio (β = 0.393, p = 0.001), in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Key Points

This study aims to examine the relationship between dietary inflammatory index and cardiometabolic risk factors in women with PCOS.
Clinical, hormonal, and biochemical assessments conducted in women with PCOS and healthy controls.
Dietary intake assessed via validated food frequency questionnaire to calculate dietary inflammatory index (DII).
Statistical analyses performed using ANCOVA to account for DII's effect on cardiometabolic risk markers.
Women with PCOS had higher fasting insulin and adverse lipid profiles compared to controls (p<0.05).
DII was positively associated with higher waist-to-hip ratio and elevated triglycerides (p<0.01).
Higher DII scores correlated with poorer cardiometabolic health indices in the PCOS group.

Study Design

Type

Case-Control (n=77)

Multicenter

Structured PICO

Is a higher Dietary Inflammatory Index associated with increased cardiometabolic risk in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?

Population

Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and healthy controls

Intervention

Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) assessment

Comparator

Healthy controls

Outcome

Cardiometabolic risk markers including fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and lipid profilesurrogate

A pro-inflammatory dietary pattern is associated with unfavorable cardiometabolic risk factors in women with PCOS, supporting the potential benefit of anti-inflammatory dietary strategies.

Main Result

p-value: p=0.015

Limitations

Case-control design limits the ability to infer causality
Small sample size may limit power to detect small effect sizes in complex regression models
Dietary intake assessment based on self-reported food frequency questionnaires is prone to recall bias and inaccuracies
DII does not account for food preparation methods, nutrient bioavailability, or interactions between nutrients

Abstract

) were included. Clinical, hormonal and biochemical assessments were conducted. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire to calculate DII. Women with PCOS exhibited significantly higher fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and a more adverse lipid profile compared to healthy controls, indicating increased cardiometabolic risk. These differences remained significant after adjusting for the DII, suggesting they are primarily attributable to PCOS, as shown by ANCOVA analysis. In contrast, higher TyG, CMI, and VAI values observed in the PCOS group were largely explained by DII. Furthermore, DII was positively associated with anthropometric and biochemical markers, including waist-to-hip ratio, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and cardiovascular risk indices, indicating that higher dietary inflammation is linked to poorer cardiometabolic health in women with PCOS. A pro-inflammatory dietary pattern, reflected by a higher DII score, is associated with unfavorable cardiometabolic risk factors in women with PCOS. These findings underscore the importance of dietary inflammation in the pathophysiology of PCOS and support anti-inflammatory dietary strategies to mitigate associated risks.

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