Serum Adiponectin Levels in High School Girls with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Hyperandrogenism

ObjectiveTo compare the serum adiponectin levels together with metabolic and hormonal parameters among teenage girls at the early onset of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and hyperandrogenism with controls.DesignProspective study.SettingsEducation and research hospital, outpatient gynecological endocrinology clinic.ParticipantsFour hundred seventy-nine teenage girls from a school of nursing were interviewed for the signs and symptoms of PCOS. Among them, 42 cases who had a definitive diagnosis of PCOS with hyperandrogenism based on Rotterdam diagnostic criteria were recruited for the study and other causes of hyperandrogenemia had been excluded. The controls were recruited from regularly cycling healthy teenage girls from the same high school of nursing; none of those who agreed to join the study met any of the diagnostic criteria for PCOS (n = 44).InterventionsCases were selected as group I: PCOS with body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m2 (n = 20), group II: PCOS with BMI >25 kg/m2 (n = 22), group III: Controls with BMI <25 kg/m2 (n = 21) and group IV: Controls with BMI >25 kg/m2 (n = 23). Serum adiponectin, metabolic and hormonal parameters were compared in PCOS patients with BMI matched controls.Main Outcome MeasuresDifference of serum adiponectin levels, metabolic and hormonal parameters between teenage girls with PCOS and controls.ResultsSerum adiponectin levels were not significantly different in group I and group II. Serum adiponectin levels were significantly decreased in group I and group II compared with both control groups (III and IV).ConclusionSerum adiponectin levels were lower in teenage girls with PCOS and this reduction was independent from BMI.