Lipid metabolic studies in women with a polycystic ovary syndrome during treatment with a low-dose desogestrel-ethinylestradiol combination.

Twenty women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) were treated with a combination of desogestrel and ethinylestradiol (EE) and the effects on lipids and lipoproteins were compared with those induced in a group of 13 regularly menstruating, healthy women. All women were examined before and after 3 months of treatment. Compared with the regularly menstruating women, the PCO women had significantly higher body weights and blood pressure as well as elevated levels of triglycerides in serum and VLDL. During treatment, 14 out of 20 women affected by PCO lost weight. No significant change in blood pressure was observed. In the PCO group, moderate increments were encountered in serum cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides. No significant changes were seen in LDL-cholesterol or HDL-cholesterol. The ratio LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol did not alter. The level of total cholesterol in VLDL rose during treatment. These changes in serum and lipoprotein lipids in PCO patients were of the same type and magnitude as those found in the control group, apart from an increase in HDL-cholesterol in the latter. The only remaining difference after treatment was a slightly higher level of VLDL triglycerides in the PCO women. Thus only moderate changes were induced in lipid and lipoprotein patterns by the combination of desogestrel and EE. A "positive" influence on lipids and lipoproteins cannot be considered as a further advantage, added to the list of indications when hormonal treatment is used in PCO-affected women. The clinical implications of elevated triglycerides remain to be clarified.