Body Iron Stores Are Increased in Overweight and Obese Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Increased body iron stores are associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In conceptual agreement, increased serum ferritin levels are positively associated with the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in men and adult pre- and postmenopausal women (1) and with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in both men (2) and women (2, 3). Given that insulin resistance and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes are frequent in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) (4, 5), we hypothesize that body iron stores might be especially increased in these women. We studied 78 patients with PCOS and 43 nonhyperandrogenic control subjects matched for BMI and degree of obesity (6). Women were phenotyped to determine clinical, anthropometrical hormonal and metabolic variables as described previously (7). Serum ferritin and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were measured by automated immunochemiluminescence (Immulite 2000 Ferritin and High Sensitivity CRP; Diagnostic Products, Los Angeles, CA) with lower limits of detection of 0.9 pmol/l and 0.1 mg/l, respectively. None of the women had a history of abnormal glucose tolerance or had taken insulin sensitizers in the previous 6 months. The ethics committee of Hospital Ramon y Cajal approved the study, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Data were analyzed by general linear model after ensuring a normal distribution of the variables by logarithmic or square-root transformations, introducing PCOS or control status and …