according to the World Health Organization<\/a>, as well as transgender people \u2014 and how doctors treat it.<\/p>\nWhen a condition is seen as affecting one organ, everything from research funding to education to clinical guidelines \u201cis all in that box,\u201d said Dr. Helena Teede, an endocrinologist and professor of women\u2019s health at Monash University in Australia, and the lead author of the paper. \u201cAnd in this condition, it was in the wrong box.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means medical students often learn about the condition only in gynecology courses, despite it being an endocrine condition that affects many body systems. Beyond gynecological symptoms, P.M.O.S. can cause hair and skin changes, and it is associated with increased risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obstructive sleep apnea.<\/p>\n
Because medical education on the condition has focused so heavily on the ovaries, the gynecologists and reproductive endocrinologists who commonly see P.M.O.S. patients often don\u2019t refer them to be screened for those other conditions, or even warn them that they are at higher risk, several experts said.<\/p>\n
It is common for patients to be confused by a P.C.O.S. diagnosis if they don\u2019t have cysts, or to be frightened by the prospect of developing them because they believe incorrectly that the cysts may be cancerous, said Dr. Christine Carlan Greves, an OB-GYN at Orlando Health Women\u2019s Institute, who was not involved with the name change. She added that she hoped conversations would become less singularly focused on the condition\u2019s effects on reproduction, because \u201cthere\u2019s so much more to a woman\u2019s life than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Melanie Cree, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Colorado Anschutz and a co-author of the Lancet paper, said that when she applied for grants through the National Institutes of Health to study the condition, the applications were typically directed to the institute within the N.I.H. that covers reproductive health, which has a relatively small budget.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cree said she hoped that, with the name change, P.M.O.S. research would become eligible for funding through the N.I.H. institutes that cover, for example, diabetes and heart disease. (A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Health agencies in other countries, and nongovernmental organizations that fund research, could similarly expand funding opportunities.<\/p>\n
Over the next three years, Dr. Teede said, members of the consortium will conduct an international campaign to communicate and explain the name change.<\/p>\n
The change could have immediate implications for some patients, prompting doctors to recommend more screening for metabolic and cardiovascular problems. Typically, several experts said, patients are prescribed birth control for their symptoms, if they\u2019re not trying to get pregnant. But, while that can be very effective and will still be part of treatment for many patients, it doesn\u2019t address the condition\u2019s full effects.<\/p>\n
With a broader understanding of what the syndrome is, other treatments may emerge. But much more research is needed, Dr. Cree said: Because funding has been so limited, patients are usually treated off-label with drugs that were approved for other conditions.<\/p>\n
Dr. Basma S. Faris, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who was not involved in the paper, said patients with P.M.O.S. should be monitored closely for insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors like high cholesterol, and counseled about nutrition and other lifestyle changes. She also noted that P.M.O.S. is associated with a greater risk of endometrial cancer, which women should be made aware of so they can be on the lookout for early symptoms.<\/p>\n
Dr. Faris said she hoped the name change would \u201credirect us into thinking about this as a long-term chronic condition and not just a period problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, millions of patients with symptoms like irregular periods, pelvic pain, excess body hair and acne have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[18,135,48616,19,17,136777,55762,172,23960],"class_list":["post-482751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-hormones","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medicine-and-health","tag-ovaries","tag-research","tag-women-and-girls"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116567939886299761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}