The impact of BMI on the plasma glucose and lipid status of women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: BMI status is theorized to impact on the plasma glucose and lipid parameters of women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Hence, this study was instituted to investigate this theory among women with polycystic ovary syndrome in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.Methods: Medical records of 231 women with PCOS visiting a tertiary health center over a consecutive 10-year period were retrospectively acquired and analyzed. The obtained records were age, weight, height, calculated BMI, fasting plasma glucose and lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein). The records were analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk, descriptive, chi-square, two-way analysis of variance, and Pearson’s tests. A two-tailed p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.Results: Overweight and obesity was recorded among 33.3% and 45.5% of the study cohorts respectively. The obese cohorts had higher plasma levels and abnormal frequency of fasting glucose (<0.001), total cholesterol (<0.001), triglycerides (<0.001), high-density lipoprotein (<0.001) and low-density lipoprotein (<0.001) status than the normal weight and overweight cohorts. BMI correlated weakly with glucose (r=0.259; p = 0.003), inversely but weakly with high-density lipoprotein (r: -0.373 p<0.001) and weakly with triglycerides (r=0.316; p<0.001) among overweight cohorts. BMI correlated strongly with fasting glucose (r=0.578; p< 0.001), strongly with total cholesterol (r=0.840; p<0.001), moderately but inversely with high-density (r=-0.490; p=0.004), strongly with triglycerides (r=0.753; p<0.001) and strongly with low-density lipoprotein (r=0.759; p<0.001) among the obese cohorts.Conclusions: Abnormal plasma glucose and lipid parameters seem to be prevalent among obese PCOS patients. Therefore, weight reduction should be a therapeutic target during their treatment.