‘Women with PCOS highly prone to diabetes’

New Delhi: Women suffering from Poly Cystic Ovary
Syndrome (PCOS), a problem in which a woman’s hormones are imbalanced, are
highly prone to diabetes, according to the new findings of All India Institute
of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Doctors from AIIMS, after conducting
several survey, researches and monitoring patients during the Out Patient
Department (OPD) sessions, have discovered that insulin resistance’ is an
integral part of PCOS and that women with the syndrome are at a higher risk for
diabetes than the general population.

“Insulin resistance has been
recognised as a risk factor for diabetes and may be the earliest detectable
abnormality in individuals who proceed to develop diabetes,” said Md.
Ashraf Ganie, a senior endocrinology consultant and assistant professor at
AIIMS.

Insulin resistance is a condition in
which the body produces insulin but does not use it effectively. When people
have insulin resistance, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being
absorbed by the cells, leading to type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes.

PCOS is the most common endocrine
disorder in women of reproductive age. Symptoms are irregular menstrual
periods, irregular ovulation, hirutism, weight gain, hair loss and oily skin or
acne.

PCOS symptoms vary from women to women
thus making its diagnosis delayed or confusing.   Ganie said insulin resistance has been
recognised as a risk factor for diabetes and may be the earliest detectable
abnormality in individuals who proceed to develop diabetes.

India currently reports 10 per cent of
the world’s PCOS cases. The available data about PCOS suggests its prevalence
to be around 4-10 per cent of it’s population in USA, two per cent in European
Countries, and 20 -25 per cent in women.

“PCOS  is also associated with an increased risk of
developing health problems in later life span, such as type 2 diabetes,
hyper tension and heart disease, metabolic syndrome, NASG and sleep apnea.

However, it has been seen that 50 per
cent of affected women are not aware of it,” Nutan Agarwal, gynaecologist
at AIIMS, stated. As per recent reports of the International Diabetes
Federation (IDF) 2014, diabetes is fast spreading across the world and over 387
million people will have diabetes by 2035.

IANS