Original Article   

Minerva Endocrinology 2022 Apr 07

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6507.22.03619-3

Copyright © 2022 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Insulin sensitivity and obstructive sleep apnea in adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome

Lisa J. UNDERLAND ¹ ✉, Lisa KENIGSBERG FECHTER ², Chhavi AGARWAL ¹, Sanghun SIN ³, Netra PUNJABI ⁴, Rubina HEPTULLA ¹, Raanan ARENS ³

¹ Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; ² Broward Health Physician Group Coral Springs, Coral Springs, FL, USA; ³ Division of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; ⁴ Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA, USA

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in adults is linked with insulin resistance (IR) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, less is known about these associations in adolescents.
METHODS: We studied 3 groups of adolescents: 27 obese PCOS (OPCOS) (ages 13-21)11 normal-weight PCOS (NPCOS) (ages 13-21 years), and 8 healthy controls (ages 18-21 years). A hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp study was performed in all groups to determine IR by insulin sensitivity (M/I). Polysomnography was performed to assess for OSA in OPCOS and NPCOS groups. We compared indices of IR among all groups and OSA among OPCOS, and NPCOS.
RESULTS: We noted that OPCOS and NPCOS and controls differed significantly in their IR. M/I was significantly lower in OPCOS vs. controls (p=0.0061), and also lower for NPCOS vs control but this approached but did not reach statistical significance (p=0.084). In addition, none of the NPCOS subjects had OSA compared to 42% of OPCOS (p=0.03).
CONCLUSIONS : Our study suggests OPCOS adolescents have increased IR compared to controls and NPCOS subjects. Higher IR for NPCOS vs controls approached but did not reach statistical significance. Larger studies are needed. In addition, adolescents with OPCOS are at a high risk for OSA.

KEY WORDS: Obesity; PCOS