Background: The present study was aimed to investigate lipid profile in relation to anthropometric indices and insulin resistance in overweight or obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, lipid profile and anthropometric indices including body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, waist to hip ratio (WHR), and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were evaluated in 63 overweight or obese PCOS patients subdivided into insulin-resistant (IR) and non insulin-resistant (NIR) groups. IR was defined as homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) ≥3.8.
Results: Fasting insulin concentration and HOMA-IR were higher (P<0.001) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.012) was lower in IR group. All of the anthropometric measures other than WHR and BMI showed significant correlations with several lipid parameters. Amongst, WHtR showed the strongest correlation with total cholesterol (TC) (r=0.37; P=0.004) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (r=0.33; P=0.011) in the whole PCOS patients.
Conclusion: Anthropometric characteristics (especially BMI and hip circum-ference) are more important parameters correlated to lipid profile than IR in overweight or obesePCOS patients, confirming the importance of early treat-ment of obesity to prevent dyslipidemia in the future.
Keywords: Dyslipidemia; Insulin resistance; Lipid profile; Obesity; Polycystic ovary syndrome.