Adolescent PCOS: a postpubertal central obesity syndrome

Lourdes Ibáñez; Francis de Zegher

doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2023.02.006

Adolescent PCOS: a postpubertal central obesity syndrome

Trends Mol Med. 2023 May;29(5):354-363. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2023.02.006. Epub 2023 Mar 22.

Authors

Lourdes Ibáñez¹, Francis de Zegher²

Affiliations

¹ Endocrinology Department, Research Institute Sant Joan de Déu, University of Barcelona, 08950 Esplugues, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: lourdes.ibanez@sjd.es.
² Leuven Research and Development, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: francis.dezegher@kuleuven.be.

PMID: 36964058
DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2023.02.006

Abstract

Adolescent polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a highly prevalent, reversible, endocrine-metabolic mode essentially driven by ectopic fat, which, in turn, often results from a mismatch between early adipogenesis and later lipogenesis, or between prenatal and postnatal weight gain. The key features of adolescent PCOS are menstrual irregularity and androgen excess (hirsutism, acne, and/or high testosterone). Adolescent PCOS is frequently preceded by rapid maturation (early variants of adrenarche/pubarche and puberty/menarche, also accelerated by ectopic fat) and is diagnosed between 2 and 8 years after menarche, thus during late adolescence or early adulthood. Treatment of adolescent PCOS should not only focus on symptoms, but also reduce the amount of ectopic fat, thereby aiming for an overall state of preconception health.

Keywords: PCOS; adolescent; ectopic fat; obesity; preconception health; puberty.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Female
Hirsutism / therapy
Humans
Menstruation Disturbances / therapy
Obesity / complications
Obesity, Abdominal
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome* / diagnosis