THE GROWTH-HORMONE RESPONSE TO GROWTH HORMONE-RELEASING HORMONE IS BLUNTED IN POLYCYSTIC-OVARY-SYNDROME - RELATIONSHIP WITH OBESITY AND HYPERINSULINEMIA

This study was designed to investigate the growth hormone (GH) secreto ry response to the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) test in wom en with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), A total of 25 patients with PCOS (13 obese and 12 non-obese) and 15 normal ovulatory women (seven obese and eight non-obese) were included in this study, In the follicu lar phase patients were subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (O GTT); 2 days later they underwent a GHRH test, Basal plasma concentrat ions of gonadotrophins, steroids and sex hormone-binding globulin were measured. Insulin and GH were assayed under the OGTT and GHRH test re spectively, Based on the insulin response to OGTT in the PCOS group, n ine patients were classified as normoinsulinaemic and 16 as hyperinsul inaemic; none of the patients of the control group had a hyperinsulina emic response to OGTT. Obese patients showed a trend towards a lower G H response to GHRH. Moreover, hyperinsulinaemic patients showed a sign ificantly (P < 0.05) lower area under the curve for secretion of GB (A UC-GH) as compared to normoinsulinaemic patients, All PCOS patients ex hibited a markedly decreased response of GH to GHRH compared with the control population, Obese and hyperinsulinaemic PCOS patients were bot h found to have a lower response of GH to GHRH than all other groups, Despite the fact that obesity and hyperinsulinaemia have an additive i nfluence on the impairment of GH secretion, our results suggest that o ther factors may also negatively affect GH secretion in PCOS.