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Vitamin D and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: a Narrative Review

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Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders of reproductive age women and contributes to metabolic dysfunctions including insulin resistance (IR) and dyslipidemia. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone, which is involved in calcium metabolism and bone structure and has a potential role in the prevention of many illnesses, including cancers, autoimmune disorders, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Recently, it has been reported that vitamin D deficiency was a common complication of PCOS and vitamin D status was associated with reproductive ability, metabolic alterations, and mental health of PCOS patients. This review summarizes the advances between vitamin D status and the pathophysiological process of PCOS. Vitamin D level was negatively associated with serum androgen level. Vitamin D treatment could reduce serum androgen and anti-MüllerianHormone (AMH) levels, and decrease endometrial thickness, which resulted in improvement of menstrual cycle and folliculogenesis of PCOS patients. Moreover, vitamin D concentrations were negatively correlated with parameters of IR and body fat mass. Vitamin D supplementation has beneficial effects on IR and lipid metabolism. In addition, a positive of vitamin D on mental health of PCOS patients was proposed. Understanding the relationship between vitamin D status and the symptoms of PCOS patients is of great clinical significance to treat and prevent the progression of PCOS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Developmental Program of China (2016YFC1000600).

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82001609) National Key Research and Developmental Program of China (2016YFC1000600).

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(I) Conception and design: Jing Yang

(II) Administrative support: Tai-lang Yin

(III) Provision of study materials or patients: Dan Cheng

(IV) Collection and assembly of data: Yang Mu

(V) Data analysis and interpretation: Yang Mu and Dan Cheng

(VI) Manuscript writing: all authors

(VII) Final approval of manuscript: all authors

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Correspondence to Tai-lang Yin or Jing Yang.

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Mu, Y., Cheng, D., Yin, Tl. et al. Vitamin D and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: a Narrative Review. Reprod. Sci. 28, 2110–2117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-020-00369-2

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