Publication:

A clinical comparative study on the effects of metformin and pioglitazone on clinical symptoms in cases of polycystic ovarian syndrome

Background The present study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of pioglitazone and comparing the efficacy of pioglitazone with metformin in improvement of clinical characteristics of the PCOS patients.

Methods The present study was a prospective, parallel group trial in 40 proven cases of PCOS, all the patients underwent clinical evaluations at baseline that include height, weight, BMI, waist to hip ratio (WHR) and hirsutism (FG score). There were two groups in this study group A (unmarried) and group B (married) each divided in two subgroups each having 10 patients, A1 (unmarried - metformin), A2 (unmarried - pioglitazone), B1 (married - metformin), B2 (married - pioglitazone) therapy was given for six months with regular clinical evaluation of the patients after every two months. WHR (Waist to hip ratio) was measured according to World Organization Criteria (2003), BMI was calculated by using Quetelets Index formula WHO (1995), the grade of hirsutism was detected using Ferriman-Gallwey score (1961).

Results On comparing metformin and pioglitazone it was observed that both the drugs equally decreased the FG score; metformin significantly decreased the BMI and WHR whereas pioglitazone significantly increased the BMI and WHR.

Conclusions Pioglitazone significantly increased the BMI and WHR, whereas it significantly decreased FG score. On comparing metformin and pioglitazone it was observed that both the drugs equally decreased the FG score, metformin significantly decreased the BMI and WHR whereas pioglitazone significantly increased the BMI and WHR.