* Reveals 1 in 5 Indian women affected
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Nov 7: The Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, has played a leading role in coordinating what experts describe as the world’s largest study on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), an effort never attempted before.
The study, which is a part of the landmark Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-led project, has revealed that one among five Indian women may be living with the disorder.a
Speaking about the study, Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Ganie, lead author and Endocrinologist at SKIMS, said that it is unique in both scale and design.
“It used a proper multistage cluster sampling design, which has not been attempted anywhere else in the world. We coordinated top 20 institutes across India, and all biological samples were processed at SKIMS.”
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, is the most comprehensive national analysis of PCOS prevalence and its metabolic implications to date.
Conducted by the ICMR-PCOS Study Group, it covered five regions of the country and included 9,824 women aged 18 to 40 years.
Using the Rotterdam 2003 criteria, researchers estimated India’s PCOS prevalence at 19.6 percent, while the stricter NIH 1990 criteria yielded a prevalence of 7.2 percent.
Urban women, as per the study, were found to have slightly higher rates than rural women, with the highest prevalence in Central and North India and the lowest in the Northeast.
The study identified Phenotype C-marked by elevated androgen levels and polycystic ovaries on ultrasound but regular menstrual cycles-as the most common form, accounting for 40.8 percent of cases.
Experts warn that this type often goes undiagnosed as women may not report symptoms in the absence of irregular periods.
The findings also revealed alarmingly high rates of associated metabolic disorders among women with PCOS: abnormal cholesterol in 91.9 percent, obesity in 43.2 percent, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in 32.9 percent, metabolic syndrome in 24.9 percent, hypertension in 8.3 percent, and diabetes in 3.3 percent.
Researchers also identified a “pre-PCOS” group – women showing only one PCOS feature – who already exhibited metabolic abnormalities.
“This suggests the metabolic dysfunction starts early,” said Dr. Ganie. “Identifying these women at a pre-PCOS stage could provide a crucial opportunity to prevent progression and long-term complications.”
He said the findings underline India’s growing challenge with hormonal and metabolic disorders.
“When a baby is born from an abnormal hormonal and metabolic environment during pregnancy, that child remains at risk of developing similar disorders later in life,” Dr. Ganie explained.
He said that there is a need to ensure the mother’s metabolism is normal even before conception.
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