Fasting Insulin

A fasting insulin test measures the amount of insulin circulating in your blood after an 8-12 hour overnight fast, providing a snapshot of your baseline insulin production when the body hasn't recently processed food. For women with PCOS, elevated fasting insulin (generally above 10-12 mIU/L, though optimal levels are under 7 mIU/L) indicates that the body is overproducing insulin to overcome cellular resistance—a state of hyperinsulinemia that drives androgen overproduction and many PCOS symptoms. This test is an important but often overlooked component of PCOS blood work, as standard metabolic panels typically only include glucose, not insulin.