Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Sleep Apnea

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5-10% of women in the United States. Its onset is usually at the time of puberty with manifestations of menstrual irregularity, hirsutism, and obesity. Women with PCOS suffer at an early stage of adulthood from all of the components of the metabolic syndrome, a syndrome that typically has its peak in mid-life in other subject populations. Women with PCOS are more insulin resistant than weight-matched control women and have exceptionally high rates of early-onset impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes, as well as a substantially elevated risk for hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary, and other vascular diseases. While recent evidence indicates that the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is 30-40 fold higher in PCOS than in weight-matched control women, the possible role of SDB in causing the increased metabolic and cardiovascular risks of PCOS has not been evaluated. The overall objective of the proposed study is to analyze the direction of causality between sleep disturbances and markers of the metabolic syndrome in PCOS.

Sex

All

Minimum age

18 Years

Maximum age

40 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* PCOS subjects will be recruited from the Endocrinology Clinics of the University of Chicago. All will be at least 2 years post-menarche and less than 40 years of age. A diagnosis of PCOS will require:

  * the presence of oligo/amenorrhea;
  * hyperandrogenemia, defined by a supranormal plasma free testosterone level (\> 10 pg/ml);
  * hyperandrogenism, as evidenced by infertility, hirsutism, acne, or androgenetic alopecia; and
  * exclusion of nonclassic 21-hydroxylase deficiency congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Cushing's syndrome, hypothyroidism, or significant elevations in serum prolactin. Thus, all subjects will meet the National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus criteria for PCOS.
* Control subjects will be matched, as closely as possible, for age, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), and body fat distribution \[as assessed by single cut abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan\].
* Normal lean (BMI \<25 kg/m2) women will be between 18 and 40 years of age, in good health, with normal menstrual cycles, no sleep complaints, no history of endocrine disorder. All studies will be initiated in the early follicular phase (days 2-4).

Exclusion Criteria:

* For at least 2 months before the study, all subjects (PCOS and control) must not take steroid preparations (including oral contraceptives), medications known to alter insulin secretion and/or action, or medications known to influence sleep.

• RESULTTasali E, Chapotot F, Leproult R, Whitmore H, Ehrmann DA. Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea improves cardiometabolic function in young obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Feb;96(2):365-74. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-1187. Epub 2010 Dec 1. PMID 21123449
• RESULTTasali E, Leproult R, Ehrmann DA, Van Cauter E. Slow-wave sleep and the risk of type 2 diabetes in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 22;105(3):1044-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0706446105. Epub 2008 Jan 2. PMID 18172212
• DERIVEDTasali E, Van Cauter E, Hoffman L, Ehrmann DA. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Oct;93(10):3878-84. doi: 10.1210/jc.2008-0925. Epub 2008 Jul 22. PMID 18647805