Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Sleep Apnea

Summary

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5-10% of women in the United States. Its onset is usually at the time of puberty with manifestations of menstrual irregularity, hirsutism, and obesity. Women with PCOS suffer at an early stage of adulthood from all of the components of the metabolic syndrome, a syndrome that typically has its peak in mid-life in other subject populations. Women with PCOS are more insulin resistant than weight-matched control women and have exceptionally high rates of early-onset impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes, as well as a substantially elevated risk for hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary, and other vascular diseases. While recent evidence indicates that the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is 30-40 fold higher in PCOS than in weight-matched control women, the possible role of SDB in causing the increased metabolic and cardiovascular risks of PCOS has not been evaluated. The overall objective of the proposed study is to analyze the direction of causality between sleep disturbances and markers of the metabolic syndrome in PCOS.

Timeline

Start

2003-09

Primary completion

2008-06

Completion

2008-06

Publications

• Results Tasali E, Chapotot F, Leproult R, Whitmore H, Ehrmann DA. Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea improves cardiometabolic function in young obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Feb;96(2):365-74. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-1187. Epub 2010 Dec 1.
• Results Tasali E, Leproult R, Ehrmann DA, Van Cauter E. Slow-wave sleep and the risk of type 2 diabetes in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 22;105(3):1044-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0706446105. Epub 2008 Jan 2.
• Tasali E, Van Cauter E, Hoffman L, Ehrmann DA. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Oct;93(10):3878-84. doi: 10.1210/jc.2008-0925. Epub 2008 Jul 22.

Drugs

Indications