Prevalence and Variation in Estimates of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Among Women in India: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a significant global public health problem. It is one of the most prevalent, heterogenous and complex endocrinological disorders among the women which often apparent during reproductive years and even into the beyond stages of reproductive age. PCOS affects fertility, hormonal balance and overall well-being and its long-term health effects includes type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, endometrial cancer, and mental health conditions like depression and anxiety are more recurrent in women with PCOS.

Aim: To estimate the pooled prevalence of PCOS among the women of reproductive age-group in India based on Rotterdam, AES, NIH diagnostic criteria and self-reported questionnaire based.

Method: An intensive search has been done exploring databases like Google Scholar, MEDLINE/PubMed and ResearchGate. Only published studies conducted in India that reported PCOS prevalence during (2011-2026) and met a minimum of one of the diagnostic criteria viz., Rotterdam’s criteria, National Institutes of Health (NIH), or/and Androgen Excess Society (AES) were included for meta-analysis. R-software version 4.6.0. was implemented to conduct the meta-analysis. This study has chosen the random effect model over the fixed effect model to ascertain the pooled prevalence using 95% confidence interval. In view of the fact that random effect model accounts for variability (heterogeneity) among many research. The PRISMA guidelines has been followed. For this study, the modified Joanna Briggs institute (JBI) criteria was implemented for calculating the risk of bias.

Result: A total of 34 studies with 22904 subjects of reproductive age-group were considered for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of PCOS among the Indian women came out to be 13.15% (95% CI: 10.66 -16.11%) using random effect model. According to the different criteria of PCOS viz. Rotterdam, AE_PCOS and NIH criteria showed 14%, 11% and 10% prevalence respectively. The pooled prevalence of survey-based studies comes out to be 11% (95% CI: 7.03-16.93%). The pooled prevalence of PCOS was comparable across the three age groups classified as Group1 (5-15), Group2 (15-25) and Group3 (25-35) showing prevalence 14.18%, 12.13%, and 13.98%, yielding no statistically significant disparities across the groups (p = 0.557).

Conclusion: According to the findings of present study, the pooled prevalence of PCOS was 13%. Study showed that with the passing years, the prevalence is increasing among young age group and reproductive age-group. It is necessary to spread awareness and implement preventive measures by health experts to timely prevent the disease and treat syndrome.