title: Associations of menstrual cycle irregularities with age, obesity and phenotype in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Limited data suggest that menstrual cycle abnormalities are more pronounced in younger and more obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We aimed to evaluate the association between menstrual cycle pattern and age, obesity and PCOS phenotype in a large population of women with PCOS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 1,297 women with PCOS and divided them according to: a) age in ≤ 20, 21-30 and > 30 years old, b) body mass index in normal weight, overweight and obese and c) PCOS phenotype in phenotype 1 (anovulation, hyperandrogenemia and polycystic ovaries), 2 (anovulation and hyperandrogenemia without polycystic ovaries), 3 (hyperandrogenemia and polycystic ovaries without anovulation) and 4 (anovulation and polycystic ovaries without hyperandrogenemia).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of women with regular menstrual cycles progressively increased in the older age groups, being 8.1, 10.5 and 12.7% in women ≤ 20, 21-30 and > 30 years old, respectively (p = 0.037). The proportion of women with regular menstrual cycles did not differ between normal weight and obese women but was higher in overweight women (9.3, 9.4 and 13%, respectively; p = 0.020). The proportion of women with regular cycles alternating with irregular cycles was highest in women with phenotype 4, intermediate in women with phenotype 2 and lowest in women with phenotype 1 (74.3, 69.4 and 61.7%, respectively; p = 0.027).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Menstrual cycle pattern is more irregular in women with the "classic" PCOS phenotypes than in phenotype 4 but appears to normalize with ageing. On the other hand, obesity does not appear to have an important effect on menstrual cycle pattern in PCOS.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panidis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tziomalos
authors.forename: Efstathios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papadakis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chatzis
authors.forename: Eleni A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kandaraki
authors.forename: Elena A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Tsourdi
authors.forename: Djuro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Macut
authors.forename: Jelica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bjekic-Macut
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marthopoulos
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Katsikis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008599:Menstruation Disturbances / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D010641:Phenotype; D011085:Polycystic Ovary Syndrome / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult