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Published on: March 5, 2022
Serum Copper Level and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis
Qingtao Jiang1, Feng Zhang2, Lei Han2
1Department of Medicine, Jiangsu Health Vocational College, Nanjing, China.
Introduction:
The association of serum copper with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) has been studied for years, but no definite conclusion is drawn. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate serum copper concentrations in PCOS subjects compared with healthy controls.
Methods:
Electronic search was performed in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus up to June 30, 2020, without any restriction. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with corresponding 95% CIs in serum copper levels were employed with random-effects model. I2 was applied to evaluate heterogeneity among studies.
Results:
Nine studies, measuring plasma copper levels in 1,168 PCOS patients and 1,106 controls, were included. Pooled effect size suggested serum copper level was significantly higher in women with PCOS (SMD = 0.51 μg/mL, 95% CI = [0.30, 0.72], p < 0.0001). The overall heterogeneity was not connected with subgroups of the country, but derived from the opposite result of 1 study.
Conclusion:
Our research generally indicated circulating copper level in PCOS sufferers was significantly higher than normal controls. Large-scale studies are still needed to elucidate the clear relation between copper status and etiology of PCOS.
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