Polycystic ovary syndrome: Criteria, phenotypes, race and ethnicity.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review summarizing existing literature without systematic review methodology.
PubMed 39845478 · doi:10.1002/rmb2.12630
What was done
The author reviewed literature on phenotypic disparities of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) across racial and ethnic groups. The review summarized the prevalence of major symptoms across populations and examined the metabolic and reproductive features linked to the four Rotterdam criteria phenotypes.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values or statistical estimates. Qualitatively, it reports that East Asian populations show less hirsutism and adiposity compared with other groups. Hirsutism is reported as more prevalent in South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic populations, while obesity and insulin resistance are more frequent in Hispanic and African American populations. Studies regarding mental disorders and ethnic differences were noted to be too limited to draw conclusions.
Why it matters
Recognizing population-specific phenotypic variations indicates that standard diagnostic thresholds may underdiagnose or mischaracterize PCOS across diverse ethnic groups.
Limits
The abstract describes a narrative review without reporting search criteria, study count, sample sizes, or quantitative data. Evidence for psychiatric comorbidities across ethnicities was too sparse for evaluation.
Cited by
- supports PCOS has four distinct phenotypes.