Does Insulin Resistance Increase Thyroid Volume in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?

The study, conducted on 69 newly diagnosed polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients and 56 healthy female controls, found that insulin resistance (IR) is associated with an increase in thyroid volume (TV) in PCOS patients. The PCOS group had significantly higher levels of insulin, HOMA-IR, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), and TV compared to the control group. Within the PCOS group, those with IR had a significantly larger TV than those without IR. The study also identified positive correlations between TV and TSH, LH, insulin, and HOMA-IR levels. Despite these findings, TSH, free thyroxine (fT4), and urine iodine levels were similar between IR and non-IR PCOS patients. The study included 25 participants with IR-PCOS and 44 with NIR-PCOS, suggesting that IR may contribute to changes in TV in PCOS patients, but further research is necessary to clarify these relationships.