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Endocrine Abstracts (2025) 110 P1043 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.110.P1043

1Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona, Spain; 2Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 3Istanbul University Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye; 4Girona Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBGI), Girona, Spain; 5S. Orsola-Hospital, Bologna, Italy; 6Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 7Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital & Girona Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBGI), Girona, Spain; 8St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; 9Leuven Research & Development, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 10CIBERDEM, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain


JOINT752

In essence, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine-metabolic mode driven by ectopic fat [1]. It is unknown whether similar degrees of total, truncal, abdominal, visceral and hepatic adiposity associate to similar PCOS phenotypes in adolescent girls vs young women. The baseline data of an international PCOS intervention study [2] (www.spiomet4health.eu; Horizon 2020 grant 899671) offered an unanticipated opportunity to answer this question. Indeed, adolescent girls with PCOS (n = 129; mean ± SD; 16 ± 2 yr) and young women with PCOS (n = 183; 22 ± 1 yr) in this study happened to have similar measures of body adiposity: BMI 27 ± 5 vs 27 ± 5 kg/m2; total fat (by DXA) 29 ± 11 vs 28 ± 11 kg; truncal fat (by DXA) 14 ± 6 vs 13 ± 6 kg; non-truncal fat (by DXA) 15 ± 5 vs 15 ± 6 kg; abdominal thickness of subcutaneous fat (by MRI) 6 ± 2 vs 6 ± 2 cm; abdominal area of subcutaneous fat (by MRI) 218 ± 77 vs 219 ± 84 cm2; visceral fat (by MRI) 48 ± 29 vs 52 ± 34 cm2; and hepatic fat (by MRI-PDFF) 7 ± 5 vs 7 ± 2 %. However, the PCOS phenotype was more severe (all P < 0.001) in adolescent girls than in young women: hirsutism score (modified Ferriman-Gallwey) 13 ± 6 vs 10 ± 6; SHBG 32 ± 18 vs 41 ± 20 nmol/l; free androgen index 6.8 ± 4.6 vs 4.9 ± 3.0; HOMA-IR 3.3 ± 3.2 vs 2.3 ± 2.5; mean serum insulin during oGTT 437 ± 456 vs 253 ± 218 pmol/l; HDL-cholesterol 1.3 ± 0.3 vs 1.6 ± 0.4 mmol/l. In conclusion, the baseline data of an intervention study disclosed unexpectedly that a similar fat distribution associates with a more severe PCOS phenotype in adolescent girls than in young women. A differential secretion of growth hormone may be among the mechanisms underpinning the difference in PCOS phenotype [3,4]. In order to reverse PCOS, measures to reduce adiposity and/or to redistribute fat may thus be even more relevant for adolescent girls than for young women.

References1. Ibáñez L, de Zegher F. Trends Mol Med. 2023; 29:354-363. 2. Garcia-Beltran C, et al. Trials. 2023; 24:589. 3. Morales AJ, et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996; 81:2854-64. 4. Ibáñez L, et al. J Pediatr. 2004; 144:23-9.

Volume 110

Joint Congress of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) 2025: Connecting Endocrinology Across the Life Course

European Society of Endocrinology 
European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology 

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