A recent Nature Communications study explored the association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and birth outcomes in women with PCOS overall and assessed the role of potential confounders. Study: Systematic review and meta-analysis of birth outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome . Image Credit: MMD Creative/Shutterstock.
com About 13% of women in their reproductive years are affected by PCOS. Anovulatory infertility is likely in women with PCOS, who undergo fertility treatments to conceive. Other health disorders, such as hypertension, obesity, and depression, are also more likely in women with PCOS and contribute to worse birth outcomes in the offspring.
Meta-analyses conducted on women with PCOS have revealed more adverse outcomes like perinatal mortality, admission to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), lower mean birth weight, and higher preterm birth relative to women without PCOS. However, some gaps exist in research. For example, reports on weight-associated indices of offspring of women with and without PCOS are inconsistent.
Other gaps include a lack of sub-group analyses and unclear data on the influence of maternal characteristics on birth outcomes. This meta-analysis and systematic review is an updated version of previously published reviews containing publications until 4 April 2017. Here, the search period was extended to 13 July 2022, and only papers published in English were included.
Several databases were considered, such as Medline, EMBA.
