High Plasma Homocysteine and Insulin Resistance in Patients With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Background: polycystic ovarian syndrome (pcos) is a common disease among women in fertility ages and cause severe insulin resistance. hyperhomocy steinaemia is said to be among the features of pcos that could influence its outcome. objective: this study aimed to investigate whether hyperhomocysteinaemia exists in pcos and if it is related to insulin resistance in the affected patients. materials and methods: this prospective study was carried out in a university based fertility clinic. sixty four pcos patients and 50 normo ovulatory controls were reviewed for fasting glucose, insulin, homocysteine, luteinizing hormone (lh), and follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh) plasma levels in the blood sample of the 3rd day of their menstrual cycle. insulin resistance was determined with the fasting glucose (mmol/l) to insulin (miu/l) ratio and homa-ir (homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance). independent-samples t-test and linear regression test were utilized to analyze the obtained data. results: homocysteine levels compared between pcos patients and control group showed a significant difference. pcos group was divided into insulin resistant (ir) (loghoma-ir?0.57) and non insulin resistant (nir) patients. the ir group had significantly higher homocysteine (p-value=0.02), fasting insulin and glucose levels (p-value<0.001) rather than nir group. conclusion: pcos patients have a leaning toward hyperhomocysteinaemia and insulin resistance. insulin resistant patients are found to have higher homocysteine level