Prevention & Management of PCOS Rashmi Kudesia, M.D. M.Sc. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai November 18, 2015 Objectives To highlight the dilemmas in PCOS management in the primary care setting To address barriers to comprehensive PCOS care for the female through the lifecourse PCOS Lifecourse Birth Infancy & Childhood Adolescence Reproductive years Pregnancy Menopause & Beyond Management of PCOS Most important goals Avoiding over- and under-diagnosis Counseling Prioritize specific aspects affecting health and quality of life for each individual Optimize fertility and pregnancy (prevention) Minimize cardiometabolic sequelae Diagnosis Dilemma 1: What are the best diagnostic criteria? NIH Rotterdam Androgen Excess Diagnosis Dilemma 1 Common Pitfalls Not adhering to strict criteria Gestalt impressions Applying sonographic criteria Failure to recognize lean PCOS women Failure to recognize racial & ethnic variations in phenotype and risk profile Diagnosis Dilemma 2: What is the best approach to the child or adolescent with suspected PCOS? Pubertal symptoms overlap with PCOS criteria Irregular menstruation Acne Weight gain Diagnosis Dilemma 2 Common Pitfalls: Labeling an adolescent too early And yet: failure to identify a child who has multiple risk factors In a girl with suspected PCOS, failure to identify risk and provide counseling regarding: How the diagnosis might be confirmed Broad strokes of what diagnosis would mean Allay concerns and provide reassurance Diagnosis Dilemma 2 Routine fertility counseling for adolescents Teens with PCOS have greater fertility concerns than peers without PCOS Counseling Dilemma 3: What are the most salient points in patient counseling once the diagnosis is established? The quality of PCOS care provided is largely determined by the quality of patient counseling Counseling Common Pitfalls: Only addressing patients acute concerns Failure to counter misinformation from non- medical sources Failure to explain which medications address which aspects of PCOS management Lifelong Management Dilemma 4: In the era of personalized medicine, how best can one individualize PCOS care? OR, how can one take a patient-centered approach to the care of PCOS women? Lifelong Management PCOSQ Questionnaire* helps identify which domains are most affecting current QOL Emotions Body hair Weight Infertility Menstrual problems *Cronin et al JCEM 1998 Lifelong Management Consensus Guidelines from Endocrine Society (2010): All PCOS women be assessed for CVD risk BP, waist circumference & BMI at every visit Complete lipid profile (target LDL) Reassess every 2 years or sooner if weight gain 2h 75g OGTT in women with BMI>30 or in lean women with age>40, h/o GDM, FH of T2DM Reassess every 2 years or sooner if new risk factors A1c has promise Assessment for depression, anxiety, QOL Lifelong Management Common Pitfalls: Failure to recognize shifting priorities Discomfort with lifestyle counseling Time limitations Failure to emphasize or provide multi-disciplinary care with a team-based approach: Nutrition Exercise Bariatric surgery Endocrinology & cardiology Lifelong Management Common Pitfalls: Over-reliance on metformin Lifelong Management Potential roles of metformin: A meta-analysis of 31 trials concluded that metformin increases insulin sensitivity up to 20%, decreases weight and BMI by 35%, decreases fasting glucose by about 5%, and increases HDL-cholesterol and decreases triglycerides by approximately 10% in patients Weight loss enhances the effects of metformin Appears to decrease levels of C-reactive protein (low level chronic inammation) May improve vascular endothelial function and coronary ow rate Lifelong Management Common Pitfalls: Over-reliance on metformin Specific Indications for its usage: Prevent or slow progression to type 2 DM and long- term risks for cardiovascular disease) Women with IGT or DM, those with evidence of severe insulin resistance (acanthosis nigricans) and women having features of metabolic syndrome (central obesity, HTN, dyslipidemia) Does not replace lifestyle modifications! Lifelong Management Dilemma 5: How best to optimize fertility and pregnancy? Is there potential for prevention in the next generation? Lifelong Management Common Pitfalls: Failure to optimize health prior to conception Requires a detailed plan Failure to select the most effective fertility treatment Clomiphene more effective (22.5%) than metformin monotherapy (7.2%) for live birth (Legro et al, NEJM 2007) PPCOS II demonstrated a rate ratio for live birth 1.44 [95% CI 1.1,1.9] with letrozole rather than clomiphene (Legro et al, NEJM 2014) Avoiding gonadotropins in non-IVF settings Lifelong Management Common Pitfalls: Failure to provide preemptive counseling regarding the elevated risks to PCOS women: Excessive pregnancy weight gain Gestational diabetes Gestational hypertension/preeclampsia Preterm labor Increased C-section rate Abnormal birthweight and impact on ultimate cardiometabolic health of their child Lifelong Management Dilemma 6: How best to mitigate cardiometabolic sequelae for the woman with PCOS? What do we know about the risk? Lifelong Management The impact of PCOS by time of menopausal transition is still poorly understood, however: *Kudesia et al Semin Repro Med 2014 Lifelong Management Thus, the overarching goals could be: Stave off development of cardiometabolic co- morbidities in middle age Emphasize lifestyle modification Prevent or treat obesity Such that, PCOS women enter post-menopause at similar risks to non-PCOS women Conclusions The comprehensive management of PCOS requires: A patient-centered approach Significant time dedicated to thorough education and counseling A network of referrals and local resources Remaining up-to-date on newest advances in the literature Improvement in health of the PCOS woman in pregnancy could help prevent disease in the next generation