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 Researchers focused on pregnancy outcomes for more than 9,000 women
with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that occurs when
the female body makes higher than normal amounts of testosterone and
androgens, sex hormones associated with male traits.
Once women were diagnosed and treated for PCOS, they were able to
conceive at rates similar to women without the disorder, the study
found.
But women with PCOS were 70 percent more likely to have a
miscarriage than similar women close to the same age who didn't have
this disorder, and PCOS was also associated with more complications
for women and their babies.
"Several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including pregnancy-associated
diabetes, high blood pressure, premature birth and miscarriage were
increased in women with PCOS, and infants born to mothers with PCOS
had an increased risk of jaundice and respiratory complications,"
said lead study author Dr. Aled Rees, an endocrinology researcher at
the School of Medicine at Cardiff University in the UK.
"These effects were not all due to obesity, as we took this into
account in our analyses," Rees added by email.
Women with PCOS often experience irregular menstrual cycles, weight
gain, excess hair on the face and body and infertility. They may
take birth control pills to boost female hormones and regulate
ovulation for several months before trying to get pregnant. This is
thought to improve their odds of success once they stop taking
contraceptives and start trying to conceive.
To assess pregnancy outcomes for women with PCOS, Rees and
colleagues examined records from a U.K. database of primary care
patients and matched each woman with this disorder to two similar
women without the condition.
There were 6,861 pregnancies resulting in hospital admissions for
deliveries or miscarriages among the women with PCOS. These
pregnancies were compared with 15,214 among women without PCOS.
PCOS was also associated with a 32 percent higher risk of high blood
pressure during pregnancy, 41 percent greater odds of gestational
diabetes and a 25 percent higher likelihood of a preterm delivery,
researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism.
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Among the PCOS births, almost 28 percent were surgical deliveries,
compared with 24 percent of deliveries by women without the
disorder.
Infants born to mothers with PCOS had 20 percent higher odds of
jaundice and respiratory problems, the study also found.
Limitations of the study include the lack of data on births outside
hospitals or for fertility treatments provided by private doctors,
the authors note. They also didn't know how many women in the study
were trying to conceive.
But the results still suggest that women with PCOS may conceive once
they treat the disease, said Dr. Richard Legro of Pennsylvania State
College of Medicine in Hershey.
"The study's main take home message for women with PCOS is that
normal fertility can be restored with appropriate treatment, but
that they are at higher risk for multiple pregnancy complications
including pregnancy loss, gestational diabetes, preterm delivery and
pre-eclampsia," Legro, who wasn't involved in the study, said by
email.
Women with PCOS also shouldn't panic because complication rates,
while higher for them, still represent rare events, Legro added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1omHDFq Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism, online February 2, 2016.
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