Women with PCOS highly prone to diabetes: AIIMS

Women suffering from Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a problem in which a woman's hormones are imbalanced, are highly prone to diabetes, according to the new findings of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Doctors from AIIMS, after conducting several survey, researches and monitoring patients during the Out Patient Department (OPD) sessions, have discovered that insulin resistance' is an integral part of PCOS and that women with the syndrome are at a higher risk for diabetes than the general population.

"Insulin resistance has been recognised as a risk factor for diabetes and may be the earliest detectable abnormality in individuals who proceed to develop diabetes," said Md. Ashraf Ganie, a senior endocrinology consultant and assistant professor at AIIMS.

Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body produces insulin but does not use it effectively. When people have insulin resistance, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being absorbed by the cells, leading to type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes.

PCOS is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Symptoms are irregular menstrual periods, irregular ovulation, hirutism, weight gain, hair loss and oily skin or acne.

PCOS symptoms vary from women to women thus making its diagnosis delayed or confusing.

Ganie said insulin resistance has been recognised as a risk factor for diabetes and may be the earliest detectable abnormality in individuals who proceed to develop diabetes.

India currently reports 10 per cent of the world's PCOS cases. The available data about PCOS suggests its prevalence to be around 4-10 per cent of it's population in USA, two per cent in European Countries, and 20 -25 per cent in women.

"PCOS is also associated with an increased risk of developing health problems in later life span, such as type 2 diabetes, hyper tension and heart disease, metabolic syndrome, NASG and sleep apnea. However, it has been seen that 50 per cent of affected women are not aware of it," Nutan Agarwal, gynaecologist at AIIMS, told IANS.

As per recent reports of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2014, diabetes is fast spreading across the world and over 387 million people will have diabetes by 2035.