Abstract
Unmet Need: Specific PCOS-Diagnostic
Background
One of the most common endocrine and metabolic disorders found in women in reproductive age, affecting – depending kind of publication – 5 to12% of women worldwide is the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). It is suggested that only 50% of them are diagnosed and the grey zone of affected women might be much higher. Because of the missing specific diagnostics except the Rotterdam Criteria and focus on treatment of symptoms patients must suffer much too long until they get diagnosed exactly.
Method
This is a Short Review about unmet diagnostically needs to detect PCOS and experiences out of case studies and a PubMed enquiry using the search criteria „PCOS diagnostic method, 2016-2017, human, clinical trials“.
Result
33 hits were found but no specific diagnostic method was described. Since 1990 the Rotterdam Criteria has been defined the leading characteristics to diagnose PCOS, there is no improvement known. Followed by visual factors as hirsutism, acne, thin hairline, body fat distribution there is no specific diagnostic for PCOS in lean or overweight/obese patients until wish to conceive available.
Conclusion
It must be the aim in future to detect PCOS at an early stage to enable an acceptable life for these women by clarity and reduction of several health risk factors as e.g. type-2-diabetes, cardio vascular disease, and hypercholesterinemia. Diagnostically needs must be determined, measures be defined which should support/replace the Rotterdam Criteria. And there is another phenotype, the lean women with morphological existent polycystic ovaries but neither clinical symptoms nor biochemical spillover of androgen.
Keywords: PCOS, Rotterdam Criteria, diagnostic, lean, obese/overweight