Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or Stein-Leventhal syndrome, is an endocrine disorder in women that has varying degrees of early and long-term reproductive and metabolic risk. PCOS is the most common female endocrinopathy during childbearing age with around 6%-10% of the population afflicted. (Palomba et al., 2015). While many that have been diagnosed with PCOS have ovarian cyst, it is not the symptom required for diagnoses. To be diagnosed with PCOS one must be afflicted with at least two of three main symptoms, high androgen levels, lack of ovulation leading to absence or irregular menstrual cycles, and/or at least 12 or more ovarian cyst. (Tehrani 2015)
Those with PCOS are at a higher risk of endometrial cancer, cardiovascular issues,
The polycystic ovaries develop when the pituitary gland does not produce enough luteinizing hormone or follicle releasing hormone. Some follicles grow, but are not released and others remain cyst. Due to this ovulation does not occur, and progesterone is not released. Due to progesterone not being released, there is no spike in progesterone levels to thicken the lining of the uterus to support a pregnancy or a decrease leading to
In pregnancy, gestational diabetes can cause the baby to grow larger than normal leading to a higher chance of needing a cesarean section. Typically, in a non-PCOS pregnancy, gestational diabetes diagnoses is prevalent between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. The diagnoses of gestational diabetes is higher during the first trimester than in non-PCOS pregnancies (Kamalanathan et al., 2013) Being overweight or obese with PCOS can lead to severe insulin resistance, which would lead to high levels of fasting insulin. As of this, those who had PCOS and a higher body mass index before pregnancy had higher diagnoses of gestational diabetes. (Sawada et al.,