What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Case-Control. Population: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) (n=86). Intervention: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) vs. Healthy age-matched women. Primary outcome: Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) (p=0.001).

What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the effectiveness of CIMT compared to sortilin and sclerostin in assessing cardiovascular risk in women with PCOS.

February 13, 2026BMC Women s Health1 citationsOpen Access

CIMT as a sensitive indicator of cardiovascular risk in PCOS: a case–control study of sortilin and sclerostin

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

CIMT is a more sensitive marker of early subclinical atherosclerosis in young women with PCOS than circulating sortilin or sclerostin. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

HBHatice Çalışkan BurgucuKonya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi ZYZeliha YararState Hospital MCMustafa CanAfyon Kocatepe University

Key Result

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome had significantly higher carotid intima-media thickness compared to healthy controls (0.5 vs. 0.4 mm, p=0.001), indicating early subclinical atherosclerosis.

Key Points

To evaluate the effectiveness of CIMT compared to sortilin and sclerostin in assessing cardiovascular risk in women with PCOS.
Conducted a case-control study comparing CIMT, sortilin, and sclerostin levels.
Assessed early subclinical atherosclerosis in young women with PCOS and control subjects.
Collected and analyzed biomarker data for cardiovascular risk assessment.
CIMT was identified as a more sensitive marker for early atherosclerosis than sortilin and sclerostin.
Sortilin and sclerostin were deemed unsuitable for early cardiovascular risk assessment in PCOS.
Findings suggest the need for larger and more detailed studies to explore these biomarkers further.

Study Design

Type

Case-Control (n=86)

Blinding

Single-blind

Multicenter

Structured PICO

Are subclinical atherosclerosis markers (CIMT, PWV) and circulating sortilin or sclerostin levels elevated in young women with PCOS compared to healthy controls?

Population

86 women aged 18-45 years, including 45 patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosed by Rotterdam criteria and 41 healthy age-matched volunteer controls. Key exclusions: history of smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hepatic or renal dysfunction.

Comparator

Healthy age-matched women without PCOS, with regular menstrual cycles (21-35 days) and a Ferriman-Gallwey score <8

Outcome

Between-group differences in carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV), as well as serum sortilin and sclerostin concentrationssurrogate

CIMT is a sensitive marker for detecting early subclinical atherosclerosis in young women with PCOS, whereas circulating sortilin and sclerostin do not appear to be reliable early cardiovascular risk biomarkers in this population.

Main Result

Absolute Event Rate: 0.5% vs 0.4%

p-value: p=0.001

Limitations

Retrospective design inherently limits causal inference and restricts the ability to delineate temporal relationships
Single-center nature of the study and relatively modest sample size
PCOS phenotypes were not classified according to established diagnostic subtypes
Genetic variability related to the sortilin pathway could not be assessed
Formal reproducibility metrics for CIMT measurements were not evaluated
Broader inflammatory and endothelial biomarkers were not included

Abstract

CIMT appears to be a more sensitive marker of early subclinical atherosclerosis in young women with PCOS than circulating sortilin or sclerostin. These biomarkers cannot currently be recommended for early cardiovascular risk assessment in PCOS. Larger, phenotype-stratified and longitudinal studies are needed to clarify their potential prognostic relevance in specific subgroups.

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Cite This Study

Burgucu et al. (Wed,) conducted a case-control in Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) (n=86). Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) vs. Healthy age-matched women was evaluated on Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) (p=0.001). Women with polycystic ovary syndrome had significantly higher carotid intima-media thickness compared to healthy controls (0.5 vs. 0.4 mm, p=0.001), indicating early subclinical atherosclerosis.

synapsesocial.com/papers/698ebf1d85a1ff6a9301649a https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-026-04329-x

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