Current Rise in PCOS Cases in Nepalese Women

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) has been recognized as the most prevalent endocrine disorder amongst women of reproductive age.

It is characterized by 4 most underlying symptoms namely androgen excess, anovulation, infertility, and obesity while PCOS can lead to serious complications such as endometrial carcinoma (cancer).

Recent Statistics of PCOS in Nepal and Worldwide

A study that incorporated the clinical, biochemical, and hormonal profile of PCOS patients at Kathmandu Diabetes and Thyroid Centre Pvt. Ltd. in 2017 revealed that this is the most common gynecological disorder prevalent amongst females of this day and age.

Females diagnosed with PCOS are mainly characterized by chronic an-ovulation, hyperandrogenism (over-activation of male hormone namely androgen), and infertility, studied amongst 80 participants of the study with an overall age of 24 (+/-) 6 years, revealed that 83% of the patients of PCOS had menstrual irregularity, infertility was observed among 43% of the patients, while hyperandrogenism was recorded with 82% of them.

A similar, descriptive cross-sectional study that comprised 381 random female participants (undergraduate medical students) at a tertiary care hospital in 2018 in Nepal suggested the prevalence of PCOS in 35 of them making up 9.18 % at about 95% confidence interval, almost equivalent to 10% global estimates around the globe.

Amongst these participants, almost 80 of them (21%) reported having prolonged and irregular periodic cycles while 79 of them almost equivalent to (20%) were obese/overweight.

Moreover, a large-scale global study conducted in almost 194 countries in 2021 to measure the global burden of diseases reveals that there has been a steady upsurge of almost 1.45% in the rate of PCOS in women of reproductive age calculated over 2007 to 2017.

Reasons of PCOS

The unhealthy lifestyle choices of our generation are the primary cause of a rise in PCOS cases worldwide.

For example, overconsumption of fast food is leading to obesity, the prevalence of sugar in the diet with lack of exercise is making people diabetic, and consequently making them insulin resistant, along with other stressors in life (personal and professional) having havoc on female’s menstrual cycles.

Thus, these unhealthy lifestyle choices involving sedentary habits at the workplace and home are the main reasons behind the global rise in PCOS cases, globally.

Another important reason for the misery is that women are not knowledgeable about their condition of having PCOS until they try to get pregnant and fail many times.

Thus, general awareness about their health and regular diagnosis of their conditions with ultrasound in case they have some of these above-mentioned symptoms are vital.

Hence early diagnosis along with preventive and treatment procedures is highly recommended.

Thus, to sum up, these are the reasons for the current rise in PCOS cases in Nepal:

1. Obesity
2. Diabetes
3. Unhealthy lifestyle choices involving eating, exercise routine, and other stressors
4. Inheritance of PCOS from a family lineage

How to Prevent PCOS?

Adopting healthy lifestyle choices is the basic and necessary to avoid PCOS cases in women. These include eating healthy and nutritious food, maintaining a healthy exercise routine to manage your moods and weight, and remaining stress-free as much as possible.

These will help mitigate the risk of obesity, regulate the periodic/ menstrual cycles, and optimize the hormonal balance within a female body so that irregular and missed periods are uncommon cutting the risk of poly-cyst formation due to anovulation and curbing the risk of increase of male sex hormone androgen leading to PCOS.

When is it Time to See a Doctor?

Acknowledging the fact of having an alarming rise of PCOS cases in the female population of Nepal and worldwide leading to various complications regarding pregnancy, later on, it is highly recommended that females have a regular consultation with their doctors about their symptoms.

Since being insulin resistant (type II diabetic), having irregular periodic cycles, anovulation, hyperandrogenism, and obesity is some of the most commonly associated symptoms of PCOS, having some or either of these symptoms in combination might put you in the risk zone.

Hence it is always advised to have a regular diagnosis with ultrasound along with consultations with your doctor for early diagnosis to prevent lifelong complications.

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References
Ansu Mali Joshi et. al. (2017) Clinical Profile of Patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in Nepal, Endocrinology, and Metabolism International Journal
Jingjing Liu et. al. (2021) Measuring global disease burden of polycystic ovary syndrome in 194 countries: Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, Journal: Human Reproduction, Volume 36, Issue 4
K.C. Shreeyanta et. al. (2020) Prevalence of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome among Medical Students of Tertiary Care Hospital, National Library of Medicine
Salynn Boyles (2007) Article on PCOS expected to rise, WebMD