Research

Hormonal

In women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), abdominal obesity significantly worsens insulin resistance, whereas lean PCOS subjects exhibit only a non-significant trend toward impaired sensitivity.

If you have PCOS, your risk for insulin resistance is higher than average, but carrying excess abdominal weight makes it significantly worse. Lean women with PCOS may have mild issues, but obese women with PCOS face substantial metabolic impairment. Prioritizing the reduction of abdominal fat is a critical lever for improving insulin sensitivity in this population.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
These results confirm and strengthen earlier contentions, that insulin resistance is a characteristic defect in PCOS and is worsened particularly by abdominal obesity.
Laure Morin‐Papunen et al. · Human Reproduction · 2000

Why this rating

The study uses the gold-standard euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemic clamp technique and includes a substantial sample size (n=77) with clear control groups.

Source

Insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion, and metabolic and hormonal parameters in healthy women and women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

Laure Morin‐Papunen et al. · Human Reproduction · 2000

DOI 10.1093/humrep/15.6.1266

cross_sectional · n=77Cited 227×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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