Endocrine Abstracts

PCOS is a chronic medical condition consisting of PCO on ultrasound in conjunction with menstrual cycle disturbance, insulin resistance, obesity and/or hyperandrogenism manifest as acne, hirsutism and androgenic alopecia. These symptoms can be expected to have a significant impact on quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women with PCOS with that of women in the general population.
HRQoL is generally measured by questionnaire: either generic or specific to a particular medical condition. The SF-36 (Ware, 1992) is a generic instrument having 8 domains and 2 summary scores. The PCOSQ (Cronin 1998) is specific to PCOS and has 5 domains scored. These two questionnaires were completed by 21 women with PCOS attending the Gynaecological Endocrinology Clinic (response rate 69%) and by 96 women attending the Family Planning Clinic (response rate 88%). 5 of the latter were unsuitable for analysis. Data were analysed by t-tests and ANCOVA.
Women with PCOS had both decreased physical and psychological aspects of HRQoL as measured by the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component score of the SF36. In addition, every aspect of the PCOSQ was adversely affected. The mean BMI of the PCOS group was, however, significantly higher and when adjusted for, the PCS was no longer significantly different. The difference in the MCS remained significant however following BMI adjustment, as did those domains of the PCOSQ affected by BMI.
In summary, the physical aspects of reduced HRQoL in PCOS are largely due to the increased BMI. The PCOSQ is more sensitive to differences in HRQoL between women with PCOS and the general population. In conclusion, women with PCOS have reduced HRQoL which could be minimised by weight loss in overweight patients.