Hello,

Your discussion on PCOS is informative and straight to the point. I concur with the

information you have given about the additional symptoms of PCOS that include hirsutism, acne

and high glucose. Something to note is that PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder in

females of reproductive age (Rondanelli et al., 2021). The diagnosis of PCOS can be based on

the presence of at least two of the following three criteria: chronic anovulation,

hyperandrogenism which can be either clinical or biological and polycystic ovaries (Fitzgerald et

al., 2018). Disorders that present with clinical features of PCOS must be excluded. These

disorders include non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia, thyroid disease and

hyperprolactinemia. PCOS is caused by a number of factors. Certain genes have been shown to

play a role in the pathophysiology of the disease, with the environment being important in the

expression of these genes and the development and progression of the disease. When individuals

with a genetic predisposition are exposed to certain environmental factors there is the expression

of the features of PCOS. The most common environmental factors are obesity and insulin

resistance. Obesity is often associated with insulin resistance. Having high insulin levels which

can be a result of insulin resistance is associated with hyperandrogenism and may be linked to a

disruption in normal hormonal balance (Zeng et al., 2020).

 References

Rondanelli, M., Riva, A., Petrangolini, G., Allegrini, P., Giacosa, A., Fazia, T., Bernardinelli, L.,

Gasparri, C., Peroni, G., & Perna, S. (2021). Berberine phospholipid is an effective insulin

sensitizer and improves metabolic and hormonal disorders in women with polycystic ovary

syndrome: A one-group pretest–post-test explanatory study. Nutrients, 13(10), 3665.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103665

Fitzgerald, S., DiVasta, A., & Gooding, H. (2018). An update on PCOS in adolescents. Current

Opinion in Pediatrics, 30(4), 459-465. https://doi.org/10.1097/mop.0000000000000636

Zeng, X., Xie, Y., Liu, Y., Long, S., & Mo, Z. (2020). Polycystic ovarian syndrome: Correlation

between hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and obesity. Clinica Chimica Acta, 502, 214-221.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cca.2019.11.003