Reproductive Endocrinologic Pattern in Infertile Black Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a very common endocrine cause of infertility affecting about 10% of women of reproductive age. We evaluated the pattern of reproductive hormones in infertile Nigerian women with PCOS.

Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital over a 6-month period in which One hundred and fifty infertile women, with diagnosis of PCOS using the Rotterdam’s criteria, had quantitative assessment of their reproductive hormones like Luteinizing Hormone (LH), Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Progesterone, Testosterone, Prolactin and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), with relevant socio-demographic and clinical data noted in the study proforma. Z test, chi-square and correlation tests were used as appropriate to analyse the data with p<0.05 significance level.

Results: The mean age of infertile women with PCOS was 26.50±4.4years; all the women had either oligomenorrhea (62%) or secondary amenorrhea (38%), 56.5% were obese and 33.3% had hirsutism. While 37.7% of the women had abnormally elevated serum LH, 16.4% had high serum FSH, 39% had LH:FSH ratio> 2.5, 96% had low serum progesterone, 29% had high serum prolactin, 17.4% had high serum TSH values and 92% had features of polycystic ovaries on trans-vaginal ultrasound. Correlation of age and BMI with serum FSH, LH and prolactin values were weak and insignificant.

Conclusion: PCOS is common among young Nigerian women presenting for infertility treatment; with dominant features of oligomenorrhea and polycystic ovaries. Hormonal abnormalities are common, varied and not associated with other clinical characteristics.