Surprisingly low infertility rate in married type 2 diabetic women: A rather curious paradox to the current opinion of insulin resistance as the joint pathogenesis of poly cystic ovary syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Back ground: Sharing the same pathophysiologic principle which is insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and poly cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are usually considered closely related and easily interchangeable medical entities. Numerous attempts have been made to document this illusory perspective.

Objective: Based on a delicate pathophysiologic notion, we believe that fully developed T2DM is infrequently observed with fully featured PCOS.

Materials and methods: In an observational descriptive study 257 married T2DM women were consecutively included and meticulously investigated for fertility history and, albeit, clinical and biochemical features of PCOS.

Results: Of 257 married diabetic women only six (2.3%) had no children. In one case a male problem (azoospermia) and in the second case, late marriage (aged 45 at wedding ceremony) was the cause of infertility. Thus, only four (1.6%) might have been labeled as true female factor infertility. Astounding to report was the average pregnancies for each participant which was 5.1±2.5, ranging from zero to fifteen.

Conclusion: we would suggest that, despite the well-established fact of insulin resistance as the common pathophysiologic process for T2DM and PCOS, they are definitely separate medical entities. As a matter of fact T2DM and PCOS are the two opposite aspect of the insulin resistance coin.