"As PCOS Cases Jump, Doctors Wonder If The Disorder Is Over-Diagnosed" - A. Pawlowski
If you were to create a list of health problems that can be particularly tough on a woman’s body and soul, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) would surely loom large. Triggered when a woman produces more male hormones than normal, the symptoms can be unsettling: weight gain, acne, facial hair, irregular periods, pelvic pain, and infertility. Some doctors are concerned PCOS may be over-diagnosed, unnecessarily labeling healthy women with the condition and worrying them needlessly. It has created a category of women who were told they had PCOS just because it looked like they had cysts on their ovaries and they experienced irregular periods, said Rhoda Cobin, MD, clinical professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “That’s where the difficulty lies. I personally happen to side with the folks who talk about being over-diagnosed.” Dr. Cobin would rather see doctors use signs of hyperandrogenism, or too many male hormones, as key evidence of PCOS: “Then, the diagnosis isn’t so difficult,” Dr. Cobin said. Hyperandrogenism is probably what links it all together, she added.
- Rhoda Cobin, MD, Clinical Professor, Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai