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Review
. 2024 Jan 25;13(3):698.
doi: 10.3390/jcm13030698.

Possible Effect of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) on Cardiovascular Disease (CVD): An Update

Nicia I Profili  1 , Roberto Castelli  1 , Antonio Gidaro  2 , Roberto Manetti  1 , Margherita Maioli  3 , Marco Petrillo  1 , Giampiero Capobianco  1 , Alessandro P Delitala  1
Affiliations
Review

Possible Effect of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) on Cardiovascular Disease (CVD): An Update

Nicia I Profili et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women during the fertile period. Women with PCOS have an increased risk of developing major cardiovascular risk factors during the fertile period: obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome. The possible effect of PCOS on cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been reported in different studies, but the results are not clear for several reasons. Indeed, most of the studies analyzed a cohort of fertile women who, given their relatively young age, have a low frequency of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, longitudinal studies have a short follow-up period, insufficient to draw firm conclusions on this topic. Finally, pharmacological treatment is limited by the lack of specific drugs available to specifically treat PCOS. In this review, we report on studies that analyzed the possible effect of PCOS on the most common CVD (hypertension, arterial stiffness, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular event) and available drugs used to reduce CVD in PCOS women.

Keywords: CVD; PCOS; arterial stiffness; atherosclerosis; cardiovascular disease; hyperandrogenism; hypertension; polycystic ovary syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathophysiology of PCOS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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