Prevalence of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome among Malaysian Female University Staff

Background & aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic disease with diverse etiologies. The prevalence of PCOS varies among different ethnicities and across various geographical and social settings. Scarce data exist on the prevalence of PCOS in Asia, especially in Malaysia. Regarding this, the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of PCOS and its subtypes among the Malaysian University staff. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on females of reproductive age working at University Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia. The study population was selected through simple random sampling technique. The women with thyroid abnormalities or adrenal hyperplasia were excluded from the study. The participants were screened based on anthropometric measurements, medical history, blood pressure, and pelvic examination, as well as the presence of hirsutism, acne, and alopecia. The participants were also assessed for total and free testosterone levels and subjected to ultrasonography. The PCOS diagnosis was based on Rotterdam criteria. The data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test, t-test, Chi-square test, and logistic regression at the significance level of 0.05. Results: A total of 675 females with the mean age of 26.01±7.14 years participated in this study. The prevalence rate of PCOS was obtained as 12.6%. All PCOS subjects were detected with hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovary, while anovulation was present in only one participant (1.2%). Odds of PCOS diagnosis was significantly related to increased body mass index (OR=1.14, 95% CI: 1.05-1.25), higher waist circumference (OR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.01-1.11), hirsutism (OR=20.83, 95% CI: 5.35- 81.13), and amenorrhea (OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.04-0.69). Conclusion: This study revealed a high prevalence of PCOS and a specific phenotype of PCOS among the Malaysian employees

A Review on the Assessment of the Efficacy of Common Treatments in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome on Prevention of Diabetes Mellitus

Objective: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition amongst women of reproductive age that can result in increased mortality and morbidity in women due to increased risk of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of common treatments of PCOS on the predictors of diabetes in non-diabetic PCOS women. Materials and methods: An extensive search was performed on the publications in three medical databases including pubmed, scopus and google scholar from 1995 till 2017. The articles were screened based on their quality and included in this systematic review. A total of 25 articles including cohort, randomised controlled trial, review and meta-analysis were included in the review. Results: This systematic review revealed that the effect of lifestyle modification might be low in PCOS subjects due to high drop-out rate while the benefits of this intervention including weight and fat reduction may not be achieved by medical interventions. Metformin treatment may result in improvements in insulin sensitivity while its weight reduction effect is still not documented in PCOS subjects. Thiazolidendiones might be tolerated by the PCOS subjects and may result in similar effects as metformin but this effect should be documented by further studies. Conclusion: Combination of lifestyle modification with metformin or thiazolidinedions might improve the outcome of the prevention strategies. On the other hand this study revealed a different response to treatments in non-obese compared with obese PCOS subjects