Prevalence of ultrasonography proved polycystic ovaries in North Indian women with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Prospective study.One hundred and five reproductive age group women with diet and /or oral hypoglycemic treated T2DM were the subjects of the study. Sixty age-matched non-diabetic women served as controls. Transabdominal ultrasonographic assessment of the ovaries was used to diagnose PCO. Clinical, biochemical and hormonal parameters were also noted.Ultrasonographic prevalence of PCO was higher in women with diabetes than in non-diabetic subjects (61.0% vs. 36.7%, P < 0.003) whereas that of PCOS was 37.1% in diabetic subjects and 25% in non-diabetic controls (P > 0.1). Diabetic women with PCO had diabetes of significantly longer duration than those without PCO (4.19±2.0 versus 2.9±1.6 yrs; p < 0.05). Among both diabetic and non-diabetic women, those with PCO had significantly higher plasma LH, LH/FSH ratio, total testosterone and androstenedione levels.This study demonstrates a higher prevalence of PCO in women with T2DM as compared to non-diabetic subjects.Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has, since its first description by Stein and Leventhal in 1935, become one of the commonest disorders in women, affecting 5 to 10% in the reproductive age-group [1-3]. This common medical condition has brought gynecologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, pediatricians, and dermatologists together [4]. The disorder manifests as obesity, hirsutism, menstrual disturbances, acne vulgaris, male-pattern baldness, recurrent abortions, infertility, an-ovulation, and psychological and psychosexual morbidity [5]. It is an important cause of hirsutism and of infertility in our population [6,7]. With the advances and refinement in ultrasound technology, the presence of polycystic appearance of ovaries has increasingly been accepted as an essential part of the diagnosis of this syndrome and ultrasound suggestion of PCO has recently been introduced as one of the three diagnostic criteria of PCOS in Rotterdam consensus workshop 2003 [8]. Using the most conservative criteria for transabdomina