The relationship between clinicobiochemical markers and depression in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that clinical features of Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are associated with a lower degree of health, self, and sex satisfaction.

Objective: Our study aimed to investigate possible associations between depression and different clinicobiochemical markers of PCOS.

Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional analytic study, 120 PCOS women aged 18-45 yr, were enrolled. Beck Depression Inventory was used to assess depression. Also, all participants underwent biochemical studies. Individuals with 15 points and more in Beck test were referred to a psychiatrist to participate in a complementary interview for the diagnosis of depression based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSMIV-TR) criteria.

Results: Among the study participants, 82 women (68.3%) were non-depressed, and 38 patients (31.7%) had some degrees of depression. According to the psychiatric interview, 10 patients (8.3%) had major depression, 22 patients (18.3%) had minor depression and 6 patients (5%) had dysthymia. We failed to show any significant difference in body mass index, hirsutism, infertility, serum total testosterone, lipid profile, and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) between depressed and non-depressed subjects (p>0.05). Using Spearman correlation, we did not find a positive correlation between BDI scores and clinicobiochemical markers for all PCOS subjects (-0.139≤r≤+0.121, p>0.05).

Conclusion: In spite of high rate of depression in women with PCOS, there was no significant association between Clinicobiochemical Markers and depression.