Effectiveness and Safety of Acarbose Plus Metformin and Acarbose Plus Myoinositol Dual Therapies Versus Metformin Monotherapy in Managing the Metabolic and Endocrine Complications of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome A Multi Arm Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a multifaceted hormonal disorder newlinecommonly seen in women of reproductive age, characterized by a triad of clinical newlinemanifestations hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction, and polycystic ovarian newlinemorphology. Alongside reproductive disturbances, the syndrome is often accompanied newlineby metabolic derangements such as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and an elevated newlinerisk of long-term cardiometabolic complications. Current treatment strategies often newlinefall short in addressing both reproductive and metabolic dimensions holistically. This newlineprospective, randomized, open-label, interventional study was undertaken to assess newlineand compare the efficacy of three treatment modalities: Metformin alone (Group A), newlineAcarbose combined with Metformin (Group B), and Acarbose combined with Myoinositol newline(Group C), in women diagnosed with PCOS based on the Rotterdam criteria. newlineA total of 168 participants were enrolled and evenly distributed across the three study newlinearms. Clinical, biochemical, hormonal, and ultrasonographic assessments were newlineconducted at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Key parameters included menstrual newlinepattern, hirsutism, alopecia, acne, body mass index, fasting glucose and insulin, newlineHOMA-IR, lipid profile, gonadotropins (LH, FSH, and LH:FSH ratio), total newlinetestosterone, SHBG, thyroid hormones (TSH, FT3, FT4), and serum prolactin. Ovarian newlinemorphology was assessed using transabdominal ultrasonography newline