Effect of age on uterine and ovarian morphology with polycystic ovaries

To measure the outcome of age on ovarian and uterine morphology in primary infertile women with polycystic ovaries.

The observational cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2009 to March 2010, and the subjects were recruited from Ziauddin Hospital, Nazimabad, Karachi. The primary infertile subjects with polycystic ovaries were subdivided into two age groups: 20-30 years (group I), and 31-40 years (group II). Both groups had equal number of subjects. The ovarian volume, follicles count and size, uterine area and endometrial thickness were determined by transabdominal and transvaginal scans. Shapiro-Wilk's test and Mann-Whitney test were applied, with p < 0.05 being significant.

There were 200 female subjects in the study who were divided into two equal age-based groups of 100 (50%) each. The mean age of group I was 26.46 ± 3.55 years and that of group II was 36.73 ± 3.19. An increase in uterine area from 89.99 ± 5.83 to 119.0 ± 23.33 (p < 0.03) and endometrial thickness from 0.48 ± 0.11 to 0.59 ± 0.13 (p = 0.01) was observed in group II. A decline in follicular count and size was also noticed in group II (p < 0.02, p = 0.001). Ovarian volume declined from 15.36 ± 2.56 to 10.57 ± 1.29 (p = 0.001) in group II. A positive correlation of age with uterine area (r = 0.202; p < 0.003) and endometrial thickness (r = 0153; p < 0.025) was noticed.

Ovarian morphology decreased in the elder infertile group of women with polycystic ovaries, but the uterine morphology variables showed an increase in area with thickening of the endometrium in the elder group.