Research

Hormonal

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) exhibit intrinsic insulin resistance independent of body mass index (BMI), with a prevalence of 75% in lean women and 95% in overweight women, as measured by the gold-standard euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp.

If you have PCOS, do not assume your metabolic health is determined solely by your weight. Even if you are lean, you may have 'intrinsic' insulin resistance that lifestyle changes alone cannot fully correct. This biological reality requires targeted medical screening (like glucose tolerance tests) and potentially pharmacological interventions (like metformin) alongside lifestyle changes, regardless of your BMI.

StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
We report novel clamp data in Rotterdam diagnosed PCOS women... showing that women with PCOS have a high prevalence of IR... IR was present in 75% of lean PCOS... and 95% of overweight PCOS.
Nigel K. Stepto et al. · Human Reproduction · 2013

Why this rating

Uses the gold-standard euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp technique with appropriate BMI-matched controls.

Source

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome have intrinsic insulin resistance on euglycaemic-hyperinsulaemic clamp

Nigel K. Stepto et al. · Human Reproduction · 2013

DOI 10.1093/humrep/des463

cross_sectional · n=73Cited 725×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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