Authors reply
We are grateful for comments on our study [1] from Dr. Comim et al. They raised the important roles of BMI played in the risk of fracture in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and mentioned the outcomes discrepancies in different literatures addressing similar topic. We agreed to the importance of BMI; yet, as reported in our study, there seemed different clinical characteristics of PCOS in different ethnic groups. For example, the prevalence of hirsutism and obesity in Chinese women with PCOS appears to be lower than that from Caucasian patients [2]. Besides, the average BMI in Taiwanese PCOS women was reported much lower than that in Western women [3]. As such, the impact of BMI might be lower in Chinese women with PCOS. However, none of the above statements may justify absence of BMI suppose we have access to the information. As we have stated in the limitation, the characteristics of our dataset lack certain important data including body weight and BMI.
The comment inquired about the incidence of lower leg fractures in our study. However, the fracture in lower extremity (knee, ankle, and foot) is not contained in the definition of osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic fractures in our study; therefore, our study did not analyze the fracture in lower extremity.
Best regards,
Yueh-Han Hsu MD, PhD
Hsin-Yi Yang PhD
References
Yang HY, Lee HS, Huang WT, Chen MJ, Chen SC, Hsu YH (2017) Increased risk of fractures in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study. J Bone Miner Metab. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-017-0894-8
Hsu MI, Liou TH, Chou SY, Chang CY, Hsu CS (2007) Diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome in Taiwanese Chinese women: comparison between Rotterdam 2003 and NIH 1990. Fertil Steril 88:727–729
Zhao Y, Qiao J (2013) Ethnic differences in the phenotypic expression of polycystic ovary syndrome. Steroids 78:755–760
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Hsu, YH., Yang, HY. PCOS and risk of fractures. J Bone Miner Metab 36, 750 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-018-0918-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-018-0918-z