Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) after a 14-year global campaign, a change announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. The condition, which affects one in eight women and is estimated to impact 170 million worldwide, has been reappraised to "recognise this is a much broader condition", according to the endocrinologist who led the initiative, Prof Helena Teede.
The name change, published in the Lancet, aims to end confusion caused by the term "polycystic", which experts say has delayed diagnosis and left many women inadequately treated. "The name PCOS directed attention to only one organ," said Teede, director of Melbourne's Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. She said the new name "moves away from the incorrect focus on cysts" to reflect the multi-system nature of the condition, which affects not just the reproductive system but metabolism, diabetes risk and cardiovascular health.
For patients like Maddy Mavrikis, the change is long overdue. Diagnosed at 15 after irregular periods and high androgen levels, she was told by her GP that she would probably never have children. "I never had – and still don't have – cysts on my ovaries, so never really understood why I was diagnosed with 'polycystic ovaries'," she said. The term "polycystic" is a misnomer; what appear as ovarian cysts on ultrasound are actually eggs in arrested development. Mavrikis, who also had insulin resistance, said her mother, a pathology worker, had questioned whether the condition was more hormonal.
First named in 1935 as a disease of the ovaries, research later showed the condition stems from an imbalance of hormones, chiefly insulin and androgens. This imbalance affects multiple body systems, including metabolic, mental, skin and reproductive health, as well as increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. The new name, PMOS, better captures this broader hormonal picture, with Teede noting that the condition's effects "are virtually all endocrine – hormonal".
The renaming follows decades of advocacy. Academic articles had discussed it since 1995, and in 2012 a US National Institutes of Health forum recommended it. Teede said patients had been "really passionate" about the change, adding: "They know how much they have suffered because of the name." The new name gives hope to millions of women who have lived with the misleading diagnosis.
