| Resumo: | Obesity has been associated with increased androgenicity in women, however there are conflictingdata on this subject. The objectives of this study were to determine whether any androgen is independentlyrelated to body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) or age and to access if there is anassociation between elevated plasma androgen levels and the presence of either morbid obesity ormetabolic syndrome (MS). A total of 148 obese women were evaluated in their first obesity medicalappointment at Hospital de São João: 105 premenopausal and 43 postmenopausal. Anthropometricvariables, plasma androgen (total testosterone - T, free testosterone - FT, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate - DHEA-S, androstenedione) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations weremeasured. The correlation coefficient and Fisher's exact test were used, respectively, to determine thestrength of the linear relationship and to evaluate the non-random association among variables. Thepatients had mean age of 41.8±11.7 years and mean BMI of 40.5±7.5Kg/m2. In premenopausalwomen, BMI was negatively correlated with SHBG (r=-0.21; p<0.05) and positively correlated withFT (r=0.27; p<0.05) and androstenedione (r=0.25; p<0.05). Age was negatively correlated with FT(r=-0.26; p<0.05), T (r=-0.26; p<0.05), DHEA-S (r=-0.35; p<0.05), androstenedione (r=-0.33; p<0.05)and T/SHBG ratio (r=-0.34; p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between WHR and DHEA-S(r=0.2; p<0.05). On the other hand, in postmenopausal women, there was only a negative correlationbetween BMI and SHBG (r=-0.46; p<0.05). There wasn't an association between elevated serumandrogen levels and the presence of morbid obesity or metabolic syndrome (MS). In conclusion, inthis study it was found a correlation between BMI and age with some of the studied androgens, onlyin premenopausal women.
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