To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effects of weight loss on AMH in women with PCOS and severe obesity. Here we demonstrate that women with PCOS and severe obesity have higher circulating AMH levels than women with similar BMI without PCOS. Our findings support previous observations in women with PCOS both with normal weight and with obesity (7–9, 11). Moreover, we found no effect of significant weight loss induced by a 12-month weight loss program on circulating AMH, in women with or without PCOS.
One of the main characteristics of PCOS is the large number of pre-antral and antral follicles, and it is the granulosa cell layer of these follicles that produce AMH (13, 24, 25). Women with PCOS, independent of BMI, have a 2–4 fold higher circulating AMH (7), which likely reflects the increased number of antral follicles and has been proposed to be a surrogate marker for AFC and PCOM (26). The recently published evidence based international guidelines for PCOS do not support circulating AMH as a diagnostic marker and do not recommend AMH to replace PCOM measured by ultrasound (14).
The elevated circulating AMH has also been shown to be positively associated with circulating testosterone, and studies have shown that AMH reflects the severity of PCOS with correlation between phenotypic presentation and AMH levels (13, 27). In line with these observations, the highest circulating AMH levels have been found in women with all three diagnostic criteria (hyperandrogenism, PCOM and anovulation), both in women with normal weight and obesity (11). In the present study, women were diagnosed according to the NIH criteria, i.e. hyperandrogenism and anovulation, and indeed, AMH was correlated with circulating androgens. Previous studies have shown a negative association between AMH and BMI in women with overweight and obesity, which was not seen in this study. This might be due to the limited variation in BMI, not including women with overweight and obesity grade 1.
In ROC analyses, circulating free testosterone had higher sensitivity and specificity than AMH, thus AMH could not be used to discriminate women with severe obesity with and without the syndrome with enough precision. This is in line with one previous study (12), but recently, another study showed that AMH could be a robust method for diagnosing PCOM with a high sensitivity and specificity (28). Both studies were done on women with normal and overweight, and did not include women with severe obesity. The high sensitivity and specificity observed in androgen measures in this study, is in line with our previous observation in women with normal weight and women with obesity with PCOS (29).
More than 50% of women with PCOS have obesity, and obesity aggravates all PCOS symptoms (30). Interventions leading to weight loss are considered first line treatment for women with PCOS and obesity (31). Weight loss improves all features of the disease, via decreased insulin resistance and lower androgen levels, leading to improvement in ovarian function and lower AMH (31). Research on metformin therapy has shown to lower circulating AMH, due to improvements in insulin function and a decreased number of antral follicles and lower androgen levels (32). Weight loss also increases ovulations and decreases circulating AMH (18–20).
Previous weight loss studies on women with PCOS suggest that a weight loss of ≥ 5% has an overall improvement of symptoms (33). However, studies include small sample sizes. Guidelines for management of PCOS suggest ≥ 5% weight loss as a goal in clinical practice and not as evidence-based recommendations (14).
In this study we found no effect on circulating AMH after significant weight loss, both in women with or without PCOS. AMH-levels are associated with age, with lower levels in women after menopause, and therefore, in women of reproductive age, a large decrease could not be expected due to age. Previously published data on this cohort showed that even though the participants lost 12% in weight, a large part of them still had severe obesity as well as hyperandrogenemia, and metabolic parameters were not improved (6).
In this group of women with severe obesity, a weight loss beyond 12% could be needed to detect improvements, both in androgen levels and in circulating AMH. Although there was a significant weight loss in this study (range, -44.9 kg to + 11.6 kg), after 12-months, included women had a mean BMI of 33.8 ±4.0 kg (PCOS) 35.1± 5.4 kg (non-PCOS), and were still classified as having obesity or severe obesity, which is associated with IR and ovulatory dysfunction, and possibly therefore we could not find decreased levels of circulating AMH.
Strengths of this study was the relatively large study sample, all with severe obesity at baseline. Another strength was the well-defined PCOS population, with high mean values of fT and mFG-score. Limitations included the selection of patients from an obesity center and not from the general population, the relatively large age span (18 to 50 years) and the high number of drop-outs during the intervention part of the study. Although a high drop-out rate of up to 80% is common in weight loss studies (34, 35), follow up data must be interpreted with caution. Of note is that women without PCOS were older than women with PCOS, and even though analyses were adjusted for age, AMH-levels could be decreased in this group due to age. Moreover, the initial aim was to perform vaginal ultrasound at baseline to include PCOM in the diagnosis. However, in addition to logistical problems, it was impossible to perform vaginal ultrasound with adequate result on these women, due to the severity of obesity, even though the examination was performed by a highly experienced ultrasound specialist. Therefore, we had to stop this examination and diagnose the women according to the NIH criteria (6).
Taken together, in women with severe obesity, circulating AMH is higher in women with PCOS and positively correlated with androgen levels, but AMH did not decrease with significant weight loss in women with or without PCOS. These results imply that in women with severe obesity, a greater weight loss may be needed to improve reproductive features, independent of PCOS diagnosis.