Postprandial triglyceride response in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: relationship with waist-to-hip ratio and insulin

Abstract

Objective: To examine the postprandial triglyceride response to a high-fat meal in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared with a matched control group.

Design: Controlled clinical study.

Setting: Department of Endocrinology and Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Universidad de Los Andes.

Patient(s): 18 Hispanic women with PCOS (nine overweight and nine nonobese) and 9 healthy control women.

Intervention(s): Biometric measures and blood sample collection.

Main outcome measure(s): Insulin and glucose levels during a standard oral glucose tolerance test. Plasma triglyceride, cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were measured at baseline and at 4, 5, and 6 h after a high-fat meal.

Result(s): Both obese and nonobese PCOS women had higher waist-to-hip ratios than controls. PCOS women had higher levels of fasting and postglucose insulin and fasting triglyceride and postprandial triglyceride response and had lower levels of postprandial high-density lipoprotein cholesterol response, but no significant differences within PCOS groups were observed.

Conclusion(s): An expanded postprandial hypertriglyceridemia in PCOS women is related to a higher waist-to-hip ratio and insulin resistance, regardless of obesity, and contributes to increase the risk for coronary artery disease.