ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1480528
The association between Phenotypes of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease
Provisionally accepted
- College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). With the introduction of the new definition of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), there has been a lack of studies investigating the prevalence and clinical characteristics of PCOS and its phenotypes, including hyperandrogenism (HA), oligoanovulation (OA), and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCO) in association with MAFLD. The aim of this study is to explore MAFLD prevalence in young women with PCOS and determine the independent impact of PCOS phenotypes on MAFLD.This cross-sectional study included 1,422 women with PCOS diagnosed using the Rotterdam criteria, the presence of at least two of three diagnostic criteria: 1) hyperandrogenism (HA), 2) oligoanovulation (OA), and 3) polycystic ovary morphology (PCO).Among women with PCOS, 31.2% had NAFLD, and 65.1% of them were diagnosed with MAFLD. In PCOS phenotypes, MAFLD prevalence was 25.1% for HA+OA+PCO, 27.6% for HA+OA, 8.8% for HA+PCO, and 13.0% for OA+PCO. Women with PCOS and HA+OA+PCO had higher odds of MAFLD (OR [95% CI] of 1.47 [1.04-2.09]), as did those with ), after adjusting for demographic and clinical factors. However, the association between women with PCOS and HA+PCO and MAFLD was not statistically significant (0.51 [0.21-1.24]).In women with PCOS, both HA+OA+PCO and HA+OA phenotypes were independently associated with MAFLD. HA and OA may contribute independently to the higher prevalence of MAFLD in these individuals.
Keywords: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, Hyperandrogenism, Oligomenorrhea, polycystic ovary morphology. 2
Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 18 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hong, Sung, Hong, Song, Jung, Jeong, Chung and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hyejin Lee, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03760, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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