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.
Phase:
Phase 4
Details
Lead Sponsor:
University of Chicago
Collaborators:
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) National Institutes of Health (NIH)