Visceral adiposity index levels in overweight and/or obese, and non-obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome and its relationship with metabolic and inflammatory parameters.

Abstract

Visceral adiposity index (VAI) is a proposed parameter to evaluate visceral obesity instead of waist circumference (WC) in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We aimed to evaluate VAI levels in overweight and/or obese, and non-obese PCOS patients and investigate the association between metabolic and inflammatory parameters. Seventy-six PCOS patients between 18 and 40, and 38 age- and BMI-matched controls were enrolled into the study. Both PCOS groups and controls were classified into two subgroups according to body mass index (BMI) <25 and ≥25kg/m2. In PCOS patients, waist/hip ratio (WHR) (p=0.023), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p=0.001), insulin (p=0.011), homeostasis of model assessment (HOMA-IR) (p=0.006) and uric acid (UA) (p=0.002) were higher than controls. In overweight and/or obese PCOS group, DBP (p<0.001), insulin (p=0.002), HOMA-IR (p=0.001), triglyceride (p=0.015) and VAI (p=0.031) were higher than overweight and/or obese controls. In non-obese PCOS group, WHR (p=0.016), WC (p=0.030), DBP (p=0.010) and UA (p<0.001) were higher than non-obese controls. Similar VAI levels were found in all PCOS and non-obese PCOS subgroups than peer controls. Overweight and/or obese PCOS group had higher VAI levels than non-obese PCOS group (p<0.001). VAI levels were positively correlated with WHR, glucose, HOMA-IR, high-sensitive CRP and UA in PCOS group. In controls, VAI levels were positively correlated with WHR, insulin and HOMA-IR. We found that VAI levels were higher in overweight and/or obese PCOS patients compared to peer controls and non-obese PCOS patients, and associated with some metabolic and inflammatory parameters.