Metabolic aspects of the polycystic ovary syndrome

The author reviews the history of the term polycystic ovaries syndrome. He emphasizes the importance of insulin resistance in this disease. According to more recent criteria for the definition of the syndrome suffices the finding of hyperandrogenism, an irregular cycle (after elimination of other classical causes of this condition) and insulin resistance. The frequency of the disease varies in different populations up to 10%. It is significantly associated in particular with type 2 diabetes and obesity. The molecular biology of the syndrome is obscure. The metabolic syndrome as well as the polycystic ovaries syndrome have partly a genetic pathogenesis as well as an environmentally induced participation caused by stress. The polycystic ovaries syndrome is nowadays unequivocally an atherogenic syndrome and is a unit very close to Reaven's metabolic syndrome X or is part of this syndrome.