Molecular and cellular endocrinology
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Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. · Oct 1998
ReviewInsulin resistance in polycystic ovary syndrome: treating a phenotype without a genotype.
PCOS women are uniquely insulin resistant. The underlying genetic defect in insulin action is unknown. Obesity aggravates the underlying predisposition to insulin resistance. ⋯ The lack of a clear etiologic mechanism to the syndrome has led to a multitude of symptom-oriented treatments with few therapies improving all aspects of the endocrine syndrome of PCOS. Empirical studies of interventions improving insulin sensitivity in PCOS, either weight loss/diet programs or pharmaceutical agents, have been shown to improve the endocrine abnormalities in the syndrome. These initial results with anti-diabetic agents, though promising, need to be confirmed in larger, randomized studies.