What is PCOS?
You may not have heard of polycystic ovary syndrome — or PCOS — but there’s a 10 percent chance you have it. It’s the most common endocrine disorder women can have, plus the most common cause of female infertility. Here are eight things you didn’t know about PCOS:
It’s unclear what causes it.
Dr. Ricardo Azziz, founder of the Androgen Excess and PCOS Society, told U.S. News in 2015 that experts think it involves a combination of disorders linked to an excess of male hormones and irregular ovulation. Azziz estimates that 70 to 80 percent of cases are genetic; if a mom has PCOS, there’s a 50 chance her daughter does, too, research suggests.
The name can be deceiving.
Women’s ovaries aren’t the only thing affected by the condition. “Polycystic ovary syndrome is more than a cosmetic- or fertility-related issue. It’s a condition that affects health across the board,” Azziz told U.S. News. “This is not just one disorder, and not all patients are the same.”
You might have it and not know it.
The disease affects about 5 million women in the U.S. Half of those who have PCOS are undiagnosed, and Azziz says “many physicians and practitioners don’t know how to manage” the disorder.
There are a whole host of symptoms.
Symptoms include irregular menstrual cycles, male pattern baldness, weight gain and infertility. The disease has no cure, and treatment is geared at keeping symptoms in check. Doctors might prescribe medication in order to treat symptoms like irregular periods, high blood sugar and acne.
PCOS patients have higher rates of depression.
Gretchen Kubacky, a Los Angeles-based psychologist who specializes in PCOS, says depression is four times more common for those with PCOS than those without. One-third of women with PCOS reach the benchmark for major depression, she says, and many suffer from the psychological impact of a poor body image. “They have facial hair, male pattern balding and hair on their body where it doesn’t belong. Many are significantly overweight,” Kubacky told U.S. News in 2015. “This is not the American ideal of what a woman should like. The body shaming is sort of a micro aggression that gradually erodes a person’s psyche.”
Many women with PCOS are insulin-resistant.
Insulin resistance occurs when the body can’t use insulin efficiently, and it can increase the odds of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
There are ways to boost pregnancy odds.
If you have PCOS, the risk of complications around pregnancy and delivery rise. There’s a three-times-greater risk for early miscarriage in women with PCOS than those without, and the risk for gestational diabetes is higher, too. However, frozen embryos are linked to higher live birth rates and less pregnancy loss than fresh embryos, according to a 2016 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
You’re not alone.
“I did my own research and found there were many other women and girls struggling and searching for answers and support where there was none,” Sasha Ottey, founder of nonprofit PCOS Challenge, Inc. in Atlanta, told U.S. News in 2015. “I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
More from U.S. News
Diet and Lifestyle Advice for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
16 Health Screenings All Women Need
17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men
8 Things You Didn’t Know About PCOS originally appeared on usnews.com
