Unprecedented' global effort gives new name to polycystic ovary syndrome and new hope to millions of women

"After more than a decade of global consultation, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) a condition that affects one in eight women has been renamed. The hormonal disorder, estimated to impact 170 million women worldwide, will now be known as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). The name change was published in the Lancet and announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague on Tuesday, after 14 years of collaboration between international societies and patient groups across six continents."

"For too long, experts including Teede say, the misleading nature of the term polycystic in PCOS contributed to delayed diagnosis and inadequate medical care. PMOS is hoped to better reflect the condition's complex nature which affects not only the reproductive system in people assigned female at birth but also the metabolism and the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease."

"The first thing Maddy Mavrikis was told by her GP when she was diagnosed with PCOS at 15 was that she would probably never have children. She would later learn that was not true. Much of her experience of the condition has been confusing and required unlearning what she was first told starting with the name. I never had and still don't have cysts on my ovaries, so never really understood why I was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries."

"Mavrikis initially went to her doctor because of irregular periods, and a blood test revealed she had high levels of androgens. All women have these male sex hormones but women with PCOS can have an excess, which also explained Mavrikis' other symptoms including acne and excessive hair growth. Hormone imbalances can also result in polycystic ovaries a term which in itself is a misnomer, as what appears on ultrasound to be ovarian cysts are in fact eggs in arrested de"

PCOS affects about one in eight women and is estimated to impact 170 million women worldwide. The condition has been renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) after global collaboration among international societies and patient groups. The change aims to address delays in diagnosis and inadequate care linked to the misleading “polycystic” term. PMOS is intended to reflect the condition’s complexity, including effects beyond the reproductive system, such as metabolism changes and increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A patient described being told at diagnosis that she would likely never have children, and said she did not have ovarian cysts, highlighting confusion created by the original naming. The term “polycystic” is considered a misnomer because ultrasound findings often represent arrested eggs rather than true cysts.

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