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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Reproduction

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1572427

Characterisation of distinct polycystic ovary syndrome subtypes by cluster and principal component analyses

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Medical School, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  • 2Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 3SIr Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group, Perth, Australia
  • 4School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 5Pink Lake Analytics, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
  • 6School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 7Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 8Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 9Lipid Disorders Clinic, Department of Cardiology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 10Keogh Institute for Medical Research (KIMR), Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common though clinically heterogeneous condition. This study explores PCOS subtypes using two orthogonal statistical analyses of biochemical and anthropometric data. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) of hormonal and metabolic parameters were performed in a cohort of PCOS-affected women, diagnosed based on NIH criteria. Data collected included body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), fasting insulin and glucose (HOMA-IR), gonadotropins, androgens and lipids. Subtypes were explored using unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis grouping both phenotypic variables and patients into clusters. PCA resolved correlated variables (excluding BMI) into independent factors, with the influence of BMI on the components then explored. 1035 women with PCOS were included in the study, with 975 assessed using cluster analysis and PCA. Two main clusters of variables were evident, one characterized by BP, BMI, HOMA-IR and lipids (triglycerides/cholesterol/LDL), and a second by LH:FSH, androgens, SHBG and HDL). Three separate patient clusters emerged: Cluster A (29.6%% of women) showed higher BP, BMI, HOMA-IR and lipids (triglycerides/cholesterol/LDL), and lower LH:FSH, SHBG and HDL. Cluster C 43.3%) showed lower BP, BMI, HOMA-IR, triglycerides, testosterone, FAI, and higher LH:FSH, DHEAS, androstenedione, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, SHBG and HDL . Cluster B (30.0%) was intermediate. Two components aligned with the cluster analysis: Principal component (PC)1, including HOMA-IR, systolic and diastolic BP, triglycerides, LDL, FAI, and SHBG, was positively correlated with BMI (R2=0.32, p-value<0.0001) and aligned with cluster A. PC2, influenced by testosterone, LH:FSH, FAI, DHEAS, androstenedione and 17-hydroxyprogesterone, with loadings in the opposite direction from LDL and cholesterol, aligned with cluster C, with little relationship with BMI (R2=0.0067, p-value=0.0107). Different metabolic and reproductive PCOS subtypes are evident. Androstenedione and 17-hydroxyprogesterone are important in the reproductive phenotype, highlighting the importance of these hormones in diagnosis and subtype identification and emphasising their significance in understanding PCOS biology as a predominantly hyperandrogenic disorder. BMI influences and exacerbates the metabolic subtype; in the reproductive group and in lean/normal BMI patients there is little relationship between weight and other PCOS-related characteristics. Accordingly, traditional treatment paradigms cannot be generalised to all women and these subtypes may ultimately be viewed as separate disorders.

Keywords: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Pcos subtypes, body mass index, Insulin resisitance, metabolic

Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Burns, Stuckey, Wilson, Watts and Stuckey. 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: Kharis A Burns, kharis.burns@research.uwa.edu.au

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