Dehydroepiandrosteronesulfate, Insulin Resistance and Ovarian Volume Estimation in Patients With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Objective: to investigate the potential association of dhea-s with metabolic and hormonal alterations and with disorders of ovarian morphology. materials and methods: the present study was based on women with pcos that attended the gynaecological endocrinology – paediatric and adolescence endocrinology department of our clinic. overall, 321 patients who met the rotterdam eshre/ asrm – sponsored criteria for the definition of pcos were included. women’s personal medical history was recorded, anthropometric parameters were assessed and blood was drawn for analysis of metabolic and hormonal parameters. a gynaecological ultrasound was also performed to evaluate ovarian morphology. results: correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation of dhea-s with the mean volume of the right and left ovary and with the maximum volume of the largest ovary. this finding remained significant after adjusting for age and bmi (β ± se = -0.39 ± 0.17, p = 0.023 in the case of mean ovarian volume and β ± se = -0.36 ± 0.17, p = 0.032 in the case of the maximum volume of the maximum ovarian volume). conclusion: the findings of our study reveal a clear negative association of dhea-s with ovarian volume. to date, however, current evidence in this field are restricted to experimental animal models. future clinical studies are needed in this field to corroborate our findings.