Women with polycystic ovary syndrome admitted to hospital twice as often, study finds

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have more than twice the number of hospital admissions unrelated to obstetric problems or injury compared with women without the condition, a retrospective study of women in Western Australia has shown.1

Researchers analysed health records for 2566 women aged 15 and over who had been diagnosed with PCOS and 25 660 randomly selected age matched women without PCOS. They looked at hospital admissions over a 15 year period between 1997 and 2011 using information from the state-wide morbidity database for all hospitals in Western Australia.

The results showed that women with PCOS had a median of five hospital admissions unrelated to obstetric problems or injury, whereas women without PCOS had a median of two (P<0.001).

As expected, women with PCOS had much higher rates of hospital admission for the treatment of gynaecological conditions. They had a nearly sevenfold higher risk of being admitted to hospital because of endometriosis than those without PCOS (26.4% versus 4.4%, P<0.001). Women with PCOS were also more likely to have menstrual problems and to be admitted to hospital because of spontaneous miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

Having PCOS was associated with an increased rate of hospital admissions related to fertility management. One fifth (20.5%) of women with PCOS were admitted to hospital for fertility problems compared with only 2.6% of those without PCOS (P<0.001).

Admissions to hospital for reasons unrelated to reproductive health were also much higher in women with PCOS. The condition was associated with increased risk of being diagnosed with adult onset diabetes (12.5% versus 3.8%), obesity (16.0% versus 3.7%), and ischaemic heart disease (0.8% versus 0.2%) compared with women without PCOS. Mortality was nearly twice as high in women with PCOS (0.7% versus 0.4) (all P<0.001).

“PCOS has profound implications for women with regard to reproductive function in the short term and in the longer term the risk of chronic illness,” the researchers said. “Healthcare resources should be directed accordingly to mitigate against these risks.”