Clinical and Metabolic Effects of Alpha-Lipoic Acid Associated with Two Different Doses of Myo-Inositol in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Table 1

Characteristics of the entire group of women at the baseline and after six months of treatment with ALA plus MI.

	Controls	ALA + MI
		Baseline	6 months
Age (years)	23.1 ± 5.4	21.56 ± 4.77	—
BMI (kg/m^2)	27.17 ± 3.93	26.97 ± 5.15	26.47 ± 4.95
FSH (mIU/mL)	4.17 ± 0.24	6.86 ± 3.05^b	5.19 ± 2.44
LH (mIU/mL)	4.52 ± 1.49	12.55 ± 7.16^b	10.26 ± 6.79
Estradiol (pmol/L)	265.07 ± 132.57	272.19 ± 273.26	412.40 ± 339.01
Total testosterone (nmol/L)	1.18 ± 0.38	2.39 ± 0.66^b	2.32 ± 0.69
Androstenedione (nmol/L)	5.76 ± 2.13	11.70 ± 4.64^b	12.53 ± 4.36
Fasting insulin (pmol/L)	52.08 ± 15.63	66.25 ± 31.60^a	61.60 ± 24.86
HOMA-IR	1.50 ± 0.19	1.99 ± 1.03^b	1.79 ± 0.73
AUC-insulin (pmol/L × 120 min)	40884.37 ± 14743.89	55110.14 ± 33112.92^a	49892.78 ± 22061.11

Baseline parameters were compared with those of a control group (N = 30) without PCOS. Age and BMI of PCOS women were calculated on 71 women, while laboratory parameters were available both before and after the treatment in 40 patients. All data are reported as the mean ± SD. ^a vs. control; ^b vs. control; vs. baseline; vs. baseline. ALA: α-lipoic acid; AUC: area under the curve; BMI: body mass index; FSH: follicle-stimulating hormone; HOMA-IR: homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance; LH: luteinizing hormone; MI: myo-inositol; PCOS: polycystic ovary syndrome; SD: standard deviation.