assessment of c-reactive protein and c3 as inflammatory markers of insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a case-control study

background: polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos), a common endocrine disorder, is associated with infertility, menstrual dysfunction, hirsutism and frequent miscarriages. insulin resistance, as a major cause of pcos, represents a disorder with increase in inflammatory markers and risk of type 2 diabetes. we aimed to investigate whether inflammatory markers, including c-reactive protein and c3 (complement), are related and altered in polycystic ovary syndrome. methods: a case-control study including forty-two women diagnosed with pcos, according to rotterdam criteria, and forty-two healthy controls, matched for body mass index (bmi) and age, was conducted in 2012. c-reactive protein (crp) and c3 were assessed as possible determinants of the homeostasis model assessment (homa) index. independent-sample t-test was used to compare the means of the groups in age, bmi, c3, fbs and bs 2hpp (2 hr postprandial glucose) and for crp, fasting insulin and 2 hr plasma insulin and homa index. mann-whitney test and pearson correlation were used for analyzing the data. the p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. results: levels of plasma crp (p=0.039), 2 hr pp (p=0.045), fasting insulin (p=0.002), 2 hr plasma insulin (p=0.002) and homa index (p=0.002) were significantly higher in pcos patients. but c3 was not significantly higher in cases (p=0.885). there was no significant correlation between c3 and crp with homa index. conclusion: crp increased significantly in patients with pcos and was associated with insulin resistance, the most probable cause of pcos. however, such an association was not found in c3.