Endocrine features in eutestosteronemic women with polycystic ovaries

We attempted to assess the association between hyperandrogenemia and inappropriate gonadotropin secretion in women with polycystic ovaries (PCO). Thirty-one patients diagnosed as PCO by ultrasonography were divided into two subgroups: 17 with high serum total testosterone (T) level (> or = 0.5 ng/ml) and 14 with normal serum total T level (< 0.5 ng/ml). Both subgroups presented for the complaints of oligomenorrhea and/or hirsutism. The control group consisted of 15 women with regular ovulation for reference data collection. The PCO subjects with normal T, but not those with high T, revealed remarkable depletion of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), as compared with control. The PCO subject groups with high and normal serum T did not differ with respect to estrogen level, androgen level, follicle-stimulating hormone and prolactin levels, and SHBG concentration. Solely serum luteinizing hormone (LH) level was observed to be higher in those with high T, as typical features, than another subgroup or control. These data suggest that an increase in bioactive T as a result of decrease in serum SHBG or LH elevation may contribute to ovarian dysfunction in the patient with PCO.