Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome and cardiometabolic profile in offspring: a propensity score matched cohort...

Do the offspring of women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) exhibit altered cardiometabolic profiles in early childhood?

Of 2688 singletons born to women with or without PMOS who were conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART), 2549 were eligible for study analysis. Propensity score matching was employed to mitigate confounding variables. Cardiometabolic profiles at 3-6 years of age were assessed.

Compared with control participants, the offspring of PMOS mothers showed marginally higher total cholesterol concentrations (4.40 versus 4.23 mmol/l, P = 0.013, Q = 0.046), and a lower proportion had total cholesterol concentrations in the ideal range (49.3%, 107/217 versus 59.6%, 469/787; P = 0.007, Q = 0.046). Although these differences survived Benjamini-Hochberg FDR correction, they were small and the central tendency of all lipid measures remained within the normal paediatric range. In sex-stratified analyses, small but significant differences in lipids (PMOS versus controls: total cholesterol, 4.45 versus 4.27 mmol/l, P = 0.024, Q = 0.042; LDL-C, 2.53 versus 2.36 mmol/l, P = 0.007, Q = 0.042) were observed exclusively in female offspring.

Although total cholesterol was higher in ART-conceived PMOS offspring during early childhood, the minimal lipid differences were within normal paediatric ranges. Longitudinal follow-up is warranted to determine whether these subtle deviations have long-term clinical significance.