To the Editor:
A recent publication entitled “The evaluation of endothelial function with flow mediated dilatation and carotid intima media thickness in young nonobese polycystic ovary syndrome patients: existence of insulin resistance alone may not represent an adequate condition for deterioration of endothelial function” (1) has shown that flow mediated dilatation (FMD) was not different between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and ovulatory women. The FMD in PCOS women was 24.88±9.63% and 22.35±9.40% in the control group. Comparing the values for basal brachial arterial diameter (3.54±0.37 mm and 3.81±0.66 mm; PCOS and control group, respectively) and stimulated brachial arterial diameter (4.41±0.39 mm and 4.65±0.77 mm) the observed dilation was really larger than 20% for both groups. However, the expected FMD in healthy people is 7% to 10%, while the expected FMD in patients with cardiovascular disease is 0 to 5% (2). Furthermore, the great majority of studies evaluating healthy people reported mean FMD between 3% and 15% (3). Read the rest of this entry »
