Objective To investigate the correlations of serum neuregulin 4 (NRG4) level with sex hormone and metabolism level in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods A total of 87 PCOS patients were selected as the study subjects (PCOS group), and 90 healthy women (no reproductive system diseases, normal menstruation and normal sex hormone examination) were selected as the control group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect serum NRG4 level, glucose and lipid metabolism indexes and sex hormone indexes. Pearson method and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the correlation between serum NRG4 and various indexes in PCOS patients.

Results The serum NRG4 level in PCOS group was (24.41±7.31) ng/mL, which was significantly higher than (15.43±4.26) ng/mL in the control group (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the levels of BMI, hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fasting blood glucose(FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), triglyceride (TG), luteinizing hormone (LH), luteinizing hormone/follicle stimulating hormone (LH/FSH), prolactin and total testosterone in PCOS group were significantly increased(P < 0.05). Serum NRG4 levels in PCOS patients were positively correlated with BMI, hs-CRP, FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR, TG, LH, LH/FSH and total testosterone (P < 0.05); the BMI, FBG and TG were the influencing factors of serum NRG4 level (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The increase of serum NRG4 level in PCOS patients is associated with abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism and sex hormone indexes.