A study of thyroid function in polycystic ovary syndrome

Background and Objectives: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder of multifactorial etiology. PCOS is associated with thyroid dysfunctions ranging from subclinical hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroiditis, hyperthyroidism, and multinodular goiter. This study evaluated thyroid function in patients with PCOS. Methods: This comparative case-control study was done among 186 patients attending the outpatient services of a tertiary care hospital. Patients aged between 18 and 30 years were evaluated; 93 candidates with PCOS were diagnosed using the Rotterdam 2003 criteria and 93 candidates without symptoms or signs of PCOS were selected as controls. Details of symptoms and clinical examination were obtained and their serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and serum-free thyroxine were estimated. Data were statistically analyzed for differences in clinical profile and thyroid function which were compared among the groups. Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.65 and 24.83 years in the case and control groups, respectively. The most common features in the PCOS group were hyperandrogenism (79, 85.9%) and oligomenorrhea (66, 71.7%). The mean body mass index in the PCOS group (23.76 kg/m2) was found to be significantly higher as compared to the controls. Thirty-three (34.4%) patients with PCOS were found to have thyroid dysfunction as compared to 7 (7.5%) in the control group. Among PCOS patients, hypothyroidism was more common than subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusion: The occurrence of hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism was found to be higher in patients with PCOS. Hypothyroidism was more frequent among patients in the PCOS group than in the control group.