Thursday 7 July 2005
PCOS developmental origins illuminated
Source: 21st Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology; Copenhagen, Denmark: 19-22 June 2005
Exploring the influence of maternal factors during pregnancy on the development of polycystic ovary syndrome.
Results of a large population-based study conducted in Australia may have reconciled conflicting research on the developmental origins of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Researchers, led by Michael Davis from the University of Adelaide, contacted 544 women who were born at their hospital between 1973 and 1975 to take their medical history, and compared the results with records from their birth, such as birth and placental weights.
PCOS symptoms were relatively common, with one in five women having more facial or body hair than normal, and one in four describing more than 4 days of menstrual irregularity per month. By contrast, just 5 percent of participants had been diagnosed with PCOS.
Women with irregular menstruation but without a PCOS diagnosis were heavier at birth and had larger placentas than their counterparts, and tended to have mothers who were heavier in late pregnancy. Women diagnosed with PCOS, on the other hand, were 196 g lighter at birth than those without the diagnosis.
"Therefore our data suggest that different developmental pathways are implicated in the overlapping symptoms of PCOS," said Davis.
Posted: 29 June 2005
http://www.obgynworld.com/international/news/2005/Week_26/Day_3/PCOS_developmental_o.asp 
PCOS developmental origins illuminated 
