Nearly one in five adolescent girls with type 2 diabetes also has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) — a hormonal disorder that causes enlarged ovaries containing small fluid-filled sacs — according to a new analysis published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Researchers and doctors have long known about a connection between PCOS and type 2 diabetes, and it is believed that insulin resistance plays a key role in the hormonal changes seen in PCOS. There is some evidence, as well, that correcting the hormonal imbalances seen in PCOS may reduce the risk for developing type 2 diabetes — last year, a study found that taking birth control pills to treat PCOS reduced the risk for type 2 diabetes by 28%. PCOS can cause unpleasant to severely painful symptoms related to irregular or prolonged menstrual periods, and it can also raise the risk for future health problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
To get cutting-edge diabetes news, strategies for blood glucose management, nutrition tips, healthy recipes, and more delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletters!
For the latest analysis, researchers were interested in learning more about how common PCOS is in teenage girls with type 2 diabetes. This is especially important because type 2 diabetes has been on the rise in children and teenagers, and it’s important to treat PCOS as soon as possible — not only to resolve any immediate troublesome symptoms, but also to help ensure ongoing reproductive health. The researchers selected and combined data from six different studies (out of 722 studies), based on the criteria of having at least 10 participants and following accepted methods of estimating the prevalence of PCOS in girls with type 2 diabetes. The final six studies included 470 participants, with the average age of participants in each study ranging from 12.9 to 16.1 years.
High rates of PCOS seen in study populations
The researchers found that overall, PCOS was seen in 19.6% of adolescent girls with type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of PCOS was quite different from study to study, though, which led researchers to wonder why this was the case. They discovered that when studies that didn’t define any criteria for diagnosing PCOS were excluded from the analysis, the prevalence of PCOS was much more consistent across the remaining study groups — and was even higher, at 24.0%. There wasn’t enough data available to draw any conclusions about a connection between PCOS and race or obesity status in adolescent girls with type 2 diabetes.
The researchers noted that their results reflect how difficult it can be to diagnose PCOS in adolescent girls, and the lack of uniform screening practices and diagnostic methods to do so. They called for establishing consistent criteria for diagnosing PCOS in this group, to help ensure that the condition is detected and effectively treated to the greatest extent possible.
Want to learn more about PCOS? Read “PCOS and Diabetes: What’s the Link?”
