PCOS can manifest itself in women by causing irregular menstrual cycles, increased body and facial hair, and infertility. Legro and his team also had a control group of 80 women at Penn State. The study shows that 7.8 percent of women in the control group were glucose intolerant and just one percent had undiagnosed diabetes. This compares to more than 31 percent of the PCOS women with glucose intolerance and 7.5 percent with undiagnosed diabetes. We know that PCOS women are insulin resistant and are at a higher risk for glucose intolerance.
Glucose intolerance is a predictor for diabetes.
Previous studies have shown that only obese PCOS women had glucose intolerance. This study now shows that although obesity and age substantially increase risk of glucose intolerance, diabetes and glucose intolerance also occurs in young non-obese PCOS women. Penn State's College of Medicine conducts some of the most extensive research on PCOS anywhere in the world. A number of related studies are going on at this time. Legro has established a web site for families to learn more about the disease and to help recruit women for the studies.