Evidence for competing effects of body mass, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, and androgens on leptin levels among lean, overweight, and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the relationships between leptin, body composition, insulin resistance, androgens, and reproductive indices among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Design: Matched case-control study.

Setting: Academic reproductive endocrine practice; school of public health.

Patient(s): Forty-six Caucasian women with PCOS and 46 population-based controls matched by age and body mass index (BMI).

Intervention(s): None.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Leptin, insulin, androgenic hormones, body composition parameters; reproductive parameters.

Result(s): Overall, leptin levels among women with PCOS did not differ significantly from those of control women (20.4 +/- 14.9 vs. 21.9 +/- 14.3 ng/mL). However, within the lowest BMI tertile, women with PCOS had significantly lower leptin levels (9.6 vs. 18.3 ng/mL), comparable insulin, and higher testosterone concentrations than controls of similar body mass. Within the overweight and obese subgroups, both insulin and testosterone levels were increased among women with PCOS; leptin levels, although higher among obese cases, were not statistically different than those in controls.

Conclusion(s): Below a certain BMI, hyperandrogenic women with PCOS have lower leptin levels than controls. Conversely, overweight and obese PCOS subjects appear to produce insufficient leptin for a given fat mass, relative to the degree of hyperinsulinemia, potentially because of the competing effects of adipocyte insulin resistance and androgens on leptin.