Evaluation of endocrine and menstrual disturbances in women with PCOS

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Evaluation of endocrine and menstrual disturbances in women with polcystic ovary syndrome (PCOS):impact of weight, metabolic status, age and ethnicity.

  • IRAS ID

    241891

  • Contact name

    Suman Rice

  • Contact email

    srice@sgul.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    St George's University of London

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    5 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition in reproductive age women, which causes failure to grow and release an egg and therefore infertility. The egg is contained within the follicle in the ovary. In each monthly menstrual cycle, follicles are stimulated to grow by follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) released from the brain. One follicle will grow larger than the others and mid-way through the cycle, in response to luteinising hormone (LH) released from the brain, ovulates a mature egg. Measuring urine LH is the basis of ovulation prediction kits. If the egg fertilises, pregnancy is confirmed with a test, measuring urinary levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) produced by the implanting foetus.
    In PCOS, more follicles than normal grow but do not become large enough to ovulate. There is a problem with the cells inside the follicle, which nurture the egg and produce the female hormone oestrogen. Normally oestrogen feeds back to the brain controlling release of FSH and LH at appropriate times in the cycle. In PCOS, there is a problem with these hormones resulting in irregular cycles, failure to ovulate and difficulty in getting pregnant. Obesity, pre-diabetes, vitamin D (VD) deficiency and ageing worsen the symptoms. FSH, LH and hCG have structural similarities and in PCOS and ageing, high levels of LH and FSH can cause production of hCG from the brain, leading to false positive tests. We want to investigate this over-production in urine and serum of women with PCOS to develop suitable ovulation and pregnancy test kits. We would like to see if intervention with VD supplementation and/or using Inofolic supplement compared with metformin, improves prediabetes, distribution of fat/water content, weight loss and menstrual cyclicity in women with PCOS. We aim to correlate these interventions with particular serum & urine markers to develop better diagnostic tools.

  • REC name

    South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/SC/0317

  • Date of REC Opinion

    28 Jun 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion