Study sheds light on the developmental origins of polycystic ovaria...( f young women born between 1973 and 197...),Health

They took a medical history of the young women and compared it with information about their births, including birth weight, placental weight, and weight of their mothers at their last clinical examination before giving birth.

Dr Davies said: "Symptoms of PCOS were relatively common. One in five women had more facial and/or body hair than normal, and one in four reported menstrual irregularity of greater than four days. Five per cent of women reported that they had an existing diagnosis of PCOS.

"We examined maternal weight in late pregnancy, birth weight and placental weight in relation to the symptoms of PCOS, or an existing or putative diagnosis of PCOS. Compared with their counterparts, young women without a diagnosis of PCOS but with irregular periods were heavier at birth, with larger placentas, and they tended to have mothers who were heavier in late pregnancy. In contrast, women with an existing diagnosis of PCOS tended to have birth weights that were, on average, 196g lighter than women without PCOS and smaller placentas.

"Therefore, our data suggest that different developmental pathways are implicated in the overlapping symptoms of PCOS. One pathway may be mediated by high maternal weight in late pregnancy, which is linked to irregular periods in the daughter, and possibly obesity and weight-related reproduction problems. A second pathway may involve reduced placental and foetal growth, which is linked to the more severe symptoms of PCOS in the daughter, usually resulting in an early clinical diagnosis of the syndrome. A foetus that has been affected by restricted growth is more likely to have problems with insulin metabolism in l
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Contact: Mary Rice
mary@mrcommunication.org
European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology
22-Jun-2005