Cited by 285Ovarian function and disordersEating Disorders and BehaviorsReproductive Health and Technologies

Androgen Excess- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Society: position statement on depression, anxiety, quality of life, and eating disorders in polycystic ovary syndrome

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Dokras, Anuja, Stener-Victorin, Elisabeth, Yildiz, Bulent O., Li, Rong, Ottey, Sasha, Shah, Duru, Epperson, Neill, Teede, Helena·2018·Fertility and Sterility

Abstract

Objective To formulate clinical consensus recommendations for screening depression, anxiety, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and disordered eating symptoms in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and review prevalence based on phenotypes and ethnicity, changes over time, etiology, and impact of treatment.Design Systematic reviews and preparation of position statement.Setting Not applicable.Patient(s) Women with PCOS and controls screened using validated tools.Intervention(s) None.Main outcome measure(s) Depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, disordered eating, and HRQoL scores.Result(s) Several studies demonstrate that women with PCOS have an increased prevalence of higher depression and anxiety scores and higher odds of moderate and severe depressive and anxiety symptoms compared with controls. Obesity, hyperandrogenism, and fertility have a weak association with these symptoms. HRQoL scores are consistently reduced in PCOS, with infertility and weight concerns having the most significant impact. Some studies suggest an increased prevalence of disordered eating in women with PCOS compared with controls. The few studies that have evaluated the impact of PCOS-related treatments (lifestyle interventions and pharmacotherapy) show no detrimental effect or some improvement in depressive and anxiety symptoms and HRQoL scores.Conclusion(s) In women with PCOS, screening for depressive and anxiety symptoms should be offered at the time of diagnosis and screening for disordered eating should be considered. Further research is required across PCOS phenotypes, in longitudinal cohorts and on impact of therapy on depressive and anxiety syptoms, HRQOL, and disordered eating.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2018.01.038

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  • PCOS is associated with increased co-morbidities including obesity, infertility, pregnancy complications, depression and anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, reproductive cancers and cardiovascular disease.

    “PCOS is associated with increased co-morbidities including obesity, infertility, pregnancy complications, depression and anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, reproductive cancers and cardiovascular disease [3, 7, 8, 10–13].”

    From Challenges in diagnosis and health care in polycystic ovary syndrome in Canada: a patient view to improve health care (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The opening section (‘T’; page not provided) describes infertility, pregnancy complications and type 2 diabetes as features of PCOS. It also reports increased depressive and anxiety symptoms in women with PCOS. The copy discusses obesity and metabolic syndrome in relation to depressive symptoms, but does not establish the claimed increased association with reproductive cancers or cardiovascular disease. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Individuals with PCOS experience significant impacts on their quality of life related to irregular menstrual cycles, heavy menstrual bleeding, infertility, hirsutism, acne, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease risk.

    “Individuals with PCOS experience significant impacts on their quality of life related to irregular menstrual cycles, heavy menstrual bleeding, infertility, hirsutism, acne, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease risk [3, 8, 15].”

    From Challenges in diagnosis and health care in polycystic ovary syndrome in Canada: a patient view to improve health care (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The HRQoL in Women with PCOS section (page unavailable) reports reduced quality-of-life scores and identifies menstruation, hirsutism, infertility, and weight as affected domains; it also describes an acne domain in a quality-of-life questionnaire. The copy does not specifically link heavy menstrual bleeding or cardiometabolic disease risk to reduced quality of life, so the full list is not supported. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Individuals with PCOS experience decreased psychological and emotional well-being, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, negative self-image and impaired sexual function.

    “In addition, they experience decreased psychological and emotional well-being, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, negative self-image and impaired sexual function [8, 16–19].”

    From Challenges in diagnosis and health care in polycystic ovary syndrome in Canada: a patient view to improve health care (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The sections on depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and health-related quality of life report increased symptoms or reduced well-being in women with PCOS; the quality-of-life section also identifies poor body image and low self-esteem. The passages found do not address impaired sexual function, so the source supports most, but not all, of the attributed list (pages unavailable in our copy). (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Depression and anxiety in those affected by PCOS are also risk factors for eating disorders.

    “Depression and anxiety in those affected by PCOS are also risk factors for eating disorders [8, 18, 61–63].”

    From Challenges in diagnosis and health care in polycystic ovary syndrome in Canada: a patient view to improve health care (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The “Disordered Eating and ED in PCOS” section reports that women with PCOS who had anxiety or depressive symptoms were at increased risk of disordered eating, and that depressed women with PCOS were more likely to have binge-eating disorder. The evidence for anxiety concerns disordered eating, not a diagnosed eating disorder; the reported associations also do not establish depression or anxiety as causal risk factors. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • This is concerning given the established evidence of increased depression, anxiety, eating disorders and other mental illnesses in those affected with PCOS.

    “This is concerning given the established evidence of increased depression, anxiety, eating disorders and other mental illnesses in those affected with PCOS [3, 8, 57–59].”

    From Challenges in diagnosis and health care in polycystic ovary syndrome in Canada: a patient view to improve health care (2023) · cites this paper as [8]

    The Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety Symptoms sections report increased depression and anxiety in women with PCOS. The Summary of evidence reports increased eating disorders, but says the degree of risk is unclear because studies are few; the Conclusions call this early evidence. The paper does not establish increased prevalence of other mental illnesses generally. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. NIH Evidence based workshop on polycystic ovary syndrome. 2012. Avail- able at: http://prevention.nih.gov/programs-events/pathways-to-prevention/ workshops/pcos.

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Authors
Dokras, A., Stener-Victorin, E., Yildiz, B. O., Li, R., Ottey, S., Shah, D., Epperson, N., & Teede, H.
Affiliations
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • Peking University (CN)
  • Monash Health (AU)
Corresponding author
Dokras, Anuja
Venue
Fertility and Sterility
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-05
Volume
109
Issue
5
Pages
888-899
ISSN
0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2804217905
Cited by
285
References
92
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 11
FWCI
24.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF18OC0033992)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH099910)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Ovarian function and disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
Keywords
polycystic ovary syndrome, depression, anxiety, health-related quality of life, disordered eating, screening, prevalence, PCOS phenotypes, ethnicity, obesity, hyperandrogenism, infertility, weight concern, lifestyle intervention, pharmacotherapy
MeSH terms
Androgens, Anxiety, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Depression, Female, Humans, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Quality of Life, Societies, Medical

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