A recent study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility reveals that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in midlife are significantly more prone to unhealthy eating behaviors compared to those without the condition.
The findings emphasize the need for comprehensive weight management counseling that addresses psychological distress and offers targeted support to reduce disordered eating patterns within this population.
PCOS is diagnosed using updated Rotterdam criteria, which require the presence of at least two of the following symptoms: clinical or biochemical oligomenorrhea (infrequent menstruation), hyperandrogenism (elevated male hormone levels), polycystic ovarian morphology, or increased antimüllerian hormone (AMH) levels.
While body weight varies among different PCOS phenotypes, obese women with PCOS tend to experience weight gain beginning in childhood more frequently than women without PCOS.
This prospective cohort study assessed eating behaviors—including uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, and cognitive restraint—at age 46. The research compared 251 women diagnosed with PCOS at age 31 to 935 women without the condition.
Among the PCOS group, three phenotypes were examined: classic A+B (hyperandrogenism and oligomenorrhea, with or without elevated AMH), C (hyperandrogenism and elevated AMH), and D (oligomenorrhea and elevated AMH).
Results showed that at 46 years old, women with PCOS did not differ from controls in cognitive restraint but exhibited significantly higher scores for emotional and uncontrolled eating.
Notably, the C-phenotype demonstrated higher uncontrolled eating compared to the D-phenotype and women without PCOS. Emotional and uncontrolled eating were also more pronounced in the classic A+B phenotype relative to controls.
The study identified that previous weight loss attempts predicted uncontrolled eating behaviors, while perceiving oneself as overweight independently predicted emotional eating among women with PCOS.
Furthermore, psychological distress at age 31 was a major risk factor for women who later scored in the highest quartile for emotional and uncontrolled eating at age 46.
These findings highlight a strong predisposition toward unhealthy eating habits in midlife women with PCOS, underscoring the importance of holistic and psychologically informed weight management strategies in this group.
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