Women with PMOS face four times the risk of heart disease, according to a new US study. The condition affects around one in eight women in the UK.
Researchers went through health insurance records from 2000 to 2022. They found 413,450 women with PMOS, aged 18 to 50, and compared them with more than two million women who did not have it. The four-fold gap held even after the team adjusted for high blood pressure and diabetes. The findings appeared in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health.
International guidelines already tell doctors to check every PMOS patient’s heart risk at diagnosis and to talk through lifestyle changes. The authors say that is not happening often enough. Patient surveys, they noted, report delayed diagnosis and “substantial dissatisfaction with counselling regarding long-term comorbidities”. Their conclusion: “Our results emphasise the need for physician education and patient awareness of cardiovascular disease risk to improve implementation of early preventive interventions.”
They also want women followed through menopause in later studies, and more work on whether GLP-1 drugs or hormonal contraception change the link between PMOS and heart disease.
What PMOS is
Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome was known until May as polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS. Experts changed the name because many women with the condition have no ovarian cysts at all. It affects hair growth, periods, fertility and mood.
Doctors diagnose it when a woman has two of three features: irregular periods, high testosterone or signs of it such as excess facial hair, and an excess of small follicles in the ovaries on ultrasound. Acne, heavy periods and trouble getting pregnant are also common. Estimates of how many women have it range from 5% to 18%.
The exact cause is still uncertain. Genetics play a clear part, and so do environmental factors. The disorder is tied to insulin resistance, which obesity makes worse, and that raises the odds of type 2 diabetes and liver disease. Women with PMOS also run a higher risk of endometrial cancer.
There is no cure. Treatment aims at easing symptoms and cutting long-term risks. Diet and exercise are recommended, hormonal contraception can regulate cycles and ease acne and excess hair, and metformin, a diabetes drug, improves insulin sensitivity. Letrozole is one way to induce ovulation for women trying to conceive. Doctors can also monitor patients for heart and metabolic problems, and during pregnancy.
Sources
- Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome – Wikipedia
- Health condition affecting one in eight women could raise heart disease risk four-fold | LBC
