ESPE Abstracts (2016) 86 P-P1-378

ESPE2016 Poster Presentations Gonads & DSD P1 (48 abstracts)

Randomized Controlled Study Comparing Vitamin D and Omega 3-Fatty Acids Supplementation in Adolescents with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Flora Bacopoulou a, , Evangelia Kolias a , Leon Aravantinos c , Aimilia Mantzou b , Artemis Doulgeraki d , Filio Spanoudi a , Efthimios Deligeoroglou a, & Evangelia Charmandari e,


aCenter for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, First Department of Pediatrics, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; bUnit of Translational and Clinical Research in Endocrinology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece; cSecond Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; dDepartment of Bone and Mineral Metabolism, Institute of Child Health, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece; eDivision of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, University of Athens Medical School, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece; fDivision of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Clinical Research Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece


Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine genetic disorder, which is associated with increased metabolic and cardiovascular morbidity. Vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids supplementation may alleviate the metabolic and reproductive complications of PCOS.

Objective and hypotheses: To compare clinical, psychometric, biochemical, endocrine, bone and sonographic markers in vitamin D sufficient adolescents with PCOS, pre- and post- 6 month intervention with vitamin D or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation.

Method: Adolescents aged 14–18 years with PCOS diagnosed according to Rotterdam criteria, who were Vitamin D sufficient (serum 25OHD ≥30 ng/ml), were studied prospectively. Exclusion criteria included severe chronic disease, chronic medication and use of contraceptives or dietary supplements. Both at baseline and post-intervention, participants underwent detailed clinical, biochemical, endocrine, sonographic and psychometric evaluation, as well as measurement of their bone density and body composition by DEXA. Subsequently, they were randomized into 3 groups: vitamin D (D) group received 2000 IU D3 daily, omega-3 fatty acids (Ω3) group received 1 g EPA&DHA daily and control (C) group received no treatment.

Results: Thirty adolescents (mean age 15.7±2.1 years), 11 in D-group, 10 in Ω3-group and 9 in C-group were included in the study. No statistically significant differences were noted in adolescents’ BMI, body composition, blood pressure and perceived stress scale-14 score among groups. Post-intervention and compared with the control group, subjects in the D-group had significantly increased serum DHEA (P=0.044), DHEAS (P=0.017) and endometrial thickness (P=0.002), while subjects in the Ω3-group had significantly decreased serum 25OHD (P=0.007) and PTH (P=0.043) and increased LDL (P=0.046), ApoB (P=0.023) and number of menses (P=0.046).

Conclusion: In adolescents with PCOS, improvement of the menstrual cycle was noted in the group treated with omega-3 fatty acids. There was no improvement in the metabolic profile of patients in either group.

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