Abstract

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and Cushing’s syndrome share several clinical features such as hirsutism, irregular menses, obesity, glucose intolerance and dyslipidemia. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Cushing’s syndrome in patients who were admitted with the complaints of hirsutism and/or irregular menses and were diagnosed with PCOS.

Material and Methods: One hundred nine patients with PCOS (aged 14-35 years) were included in the study. We evaluated anthropometric, hormonal, and metabolic parameters. All the patients were evaluated with 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) for Cushing’s syndrome.

Results: The mean body mass index of the patients was 35.6 ± 9.5 kg/m2 and 75.2% of the patients were obese. The mean Ferriman-Gallwey score of the patients was 12.6 ± 3.7 and 61.1% of them had menstural irregularities. While the mean fasting plasma glucose level of the patients was 96.5 ± 12.8 mg/dl, mean value of HOMA-IR was 3.2 ± 1.9. We observed HOMA-IR>2.7 in 52.3% of the patients. Three patients failed to suppress plasma cortisol following1 mg- dexamethasone administration. Then, we performed 2-day 2 mg DST and observed that all the three patients suppressed cortisol levels to less than 1.8 µg/dl. In patients with severe hirsutism (n=34) the average 1-mg DST result was 0.73 ± 0.7 mg/dL in patients with mild and moderate hirsutism (n=75), however, this value was 0.64 ± 0.4 mg/dL (p=0.427).

Conclusion: We did not observe Cushing’s syndrome in the young women who were diagnosed with PCOS.

Key Words: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; Cushing’s Syndrome; 1 mg- Dexamethasone Supression Test.