Adipocytokines in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): A systematic review and meta-analysis

The central tenet in PCOS is predicting the development of the development of metabolic syndrome is Insulin resistance (IR). Adipocytokines are hormones produced by adipose cells that help to regulate insulin secretion and resistance in the body. This study discusses the effect of different adipocytokines and their patterns (increased or reduced) in predicting insulin resistance in obese and lean PCOS patients. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed which identified relevant studies from 2010 to 2020. Data was analyzed using Review Manager Version (RevMan) 5.4 software. A fixed-effect model was fitted to estimate the pooled effect of adipocytokines. I² test statistics were done to test the heterogeneity of included studies. Of 17 selected studies with 1504 participants, there is considerably lower levels of adiponectin among women with PCOS as compared with healthy controls with mean difference of −3.79 (95% CI = 3.97–3.60, I² = 73%; P = 0.005). In comparison to their healthy counterparts, leptin levels were shown to be higher in women with PCOS with mean difference of 3.64 (95% CI = 3.20–4.08, I² = 97%; P = 0.00001). Leptin concentration was shown to be directly related to IR and BMI. After controlling for BMI and age-related effects, adiponectin levels appear to be lower in women with PCOS compared to non-PCOS controls but leptin levels appear to be higher. In conclusion, increased in adipocytokines such as leptin, visfatin and chemerin predict IR among both obese and lean PCOS whereas decreased levels of zinc-alpha2 glycoprotein predict IR. Adipocytokines can be potential predictive serum biomarkers of insulin resistance (IR) in PCOS.