Assessment of glucose tolerance and pregnancy outcome of polycystic ovary patients

Objectives: To determine the impact of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) on glucose tolerance during pregnancy and perinatal outcome. Methods: Pregnancy records of 38 PCOS patients were compared retrospectively with 136 non-PCOS patients randomly. Patients with glucose challenge tests values of > 130 mg/dI were referred for the 3-h, 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Results: A family history of diabetes mellitus, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain was significantly higher in PCOS patients than controls. The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was similar in both groups. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) was observed in 18.4% of PCOS patients vs. 5.1% of controls. The main predictor of GDM was found pre-pregnancy BMI >25 while main predictor of IGT was found as PCOS. Mean gestational age at delivery, prevalence of preterm labor, modes of delivery, mean birthweight, mean Apgar score at 5 min, proportion of babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were similar in both groups. Conclusions: Higher IGT prevalence in PCOS patients might be related to maternal obesity and excess gestational weight gain and does not affect perinatal outcome. (C) 2003 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.