Readdressing Pathophysiology of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Post-COVID New Normal Era - A Pilot Study
Authors:   Clinicogenomics Lab, S.S.B Advanced Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Basu Barnali Ray , Mallick Prethi ,   Clinicogenomics Lab, S.S.B Advanced Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Chakraborty Sanchari ,   Clinicogenomics Lab, S.S.B Advanced Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Pal Randrita ,   Clinicogenomics Lab, S.S.B Advanced Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Samaddar Ankita ,   Clinicogenomics Lab, S.S.B Advanced Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Surendranath College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Saha Sudip Kumar ,   Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Medical College and Hospital
Published: May 2023

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS is a complex endocrinopathy in women of reproductive age. The diversified expression pattern of this polygenic syndrome and its complex association with modulation in nutritional status, anthropometric indices and biochemical parameters are still in puzzle. COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the existing crosstalk by changing the life style management towards more home confinement as well as sedentary. Aims and Objectives: It was aimed to understand the effect of altered dietary pattern, anthropometric parameters like various adiposity indices, biochemical parameters related to hyperandrogenism (HA) on penetrance of PCOS in new normal situation. Design: PCOS individuals (n=50) and their age and gender (18 to 36 years)‐matched healthy control (n=50) were recruited in this study. Materials and methods: Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), bioimpedance analyzer (BIA) and biochemical assays were used to estimate different indices of the participants. Statistical Analysis: IBM SPSS (statistical package for the social sciences), Version 20.0, Armonk, NY, was applied for analyzing quantitative variables (P<0.05 and P<0.01 significance level). Results: Consumption of dietary fat (P<0.01) and carbohydrates (P<0.05) was significantly higher in PCOS individuals compared to the control one. 94% of PCOS patients were found to be fell under oligomenorrhea+polycystic ovaries (O+PCO) category. The body fat content (P<0.01 and 0.05) along with androgen exposure (digit ratio-2D:4D, P=0.000) were significantly higher in PCOS individuals relative to control group. HA was highly prevalent in PCOS group where 100% of them manifested alopecia, and significant (P<0.01) correlation between free testosterone (free T) and free sex-hormone-binding-globulin (free SHBG). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was strongly associated with waist-to-height ratio (WHtR, P=0.02) and body mass index (BMI, P=0.041) in the same way as homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) with visceral adiposity index (VAI, P=0.002) and lipid accumulation product (LAP, P=0.014) index in PCOS individuals. Additionally, triglyceride glucose (TyG) index was normally distributed (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test=0.20) in PCOS individuals. Conclusion: Abnormal alternation in dietary pattern, anthropometric and biochemical indices could be the promising indicators in early detection and better prognosis of this multifaceted syndrome.