"In PCOS, Unclear CV Risk Burden Presents Challenge for Clinicians" -Regina Schaffer
Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common disorder in women of reproductive age, according to the CDC, with an estimated prevalence between 6 and 12 percent in the United States. The condition, which is typically associated with infertility, is also linked to an increased prevalence of several metabolic derangements, including obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Several studies suggest PCOS raises the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by as much as fourfold. Some experts caution that CV risk in PCOS is more acute than studies suggest, in part because women with PCOS develop metabolic abnormalities. “Having diabetes totally removes the protection that premenopausal women have against cardiovascular disease,” said Andrea Dunaif, MD, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “What is the risk for cardiovascular events? Unfortunately, we don’t know that because nobody has done the correct study where women were followed prospectively to an age where women start to experience cardiovascular events, which isn’t until they are in their 60s and 70s. The literature is chock full of studies trying to answer this question, but they are just inherently flawed because they’re not prospective studies to women of that age.”
— Andrea Dunaif, MD, Chief, Hilda and J. Lester Gabrilove Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System