Common hormonal disorder linked to longer reproductive lifespans in S'pore women

Study finds women with milder form of PCOS condition may conceive more easily

- Joyce Teo Senior Health Correspondent

A common hormonal disorder in women need not be an inherently worrying condition, a new study involving local researchers has found.

A majority of the women in Singapore who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a milder form of it, which may give them a wider reproductive window and more favourable reproductive and health outcomes, compared with women without the condition.

The finding fundamentally shifts the narrative surrounding PCOS, which affects about 11 per cent to 13 per cent of women worldwide.

For decades, the syndrome has been defined by its negative features, including irregular menstrual periods and resulting infertility, excess hair growth, obesity, acne and a higher risk of certain conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The study, which involved researchers from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and National University Hospital (NUH), was published in Nature Medicine on Oct 29.

It identified four subtypes of PCOS among more than 11,900 women aged 20 to 45 in China, before confirming these subtypes in five groups of women, from China, Singapore, the US, Europe and Brazil. The study found 53 per cent of the Singapore cohort of 127 women diagnosed with PCOS from 2011 to 2019 have the subtype with the best reproductive and health outcomes.