Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Coronary Heart Disease, and Stroke

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease; however, whether the relationship is causal is uncertain. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to investigate the associations of PCOS with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. Association between PCOS and diabetes risk was examined in European and Asian cohorts, both sex-specific and sex-combined. Causal effects of PCOS on risks of CHD and stroke were evaluated in European cohorts. Stroke was analyzed as any stroke as well as four sub-types of stroke (ischemic, large artery, cardioembolic, small vessel). We found no association of genetically predicted PCOS with risk of diabetes, CHD or stroke. This suggests that PCOS in and of itself does not increase the risk of these outcomes. Other features of PCOS (obesity, elevated testosterone, low sex hormone binding globulin) may explain the association between PCOS and cardiometabolic diseases. In light of these results, efforts to prevent cardiometabolic complications in PCOS should focus on women with high-risk factures, rather than all women with PCOS.