Epidemiological studies in polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects a striking 11-13% of Australian reproductive aged women and is a major public health concern. The prevalence of obesity is rising and adds considerably to the health and economic burden. Excess weight, present in up to 70% of women with PCOS exacerbates incidence, prevalence and severity of the syndrome and weight loss improves reproductive, metabolic and psychological features in PCOS. There is an acknowledged lack of longitudinal studies to assess the major determinants and natural history of the PCOS reproductive, metabolic and psychological features and the impact of body mass index (BMI). In my postdoctoral studies, I will conduct comprehensive epidemiological longitudinal analyses using two Australian cohorts: the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) and the Raine Cohort. This project will include longitudinal analysis to examine PCOS prevalence, the interaction with demographic features, BMI and lifestyle factors along with predictors of PCOS. The predictors of PCOS complications including reproductive, metabolic and psychological features will also be examined. This will facilitate understanding of the natural history of PCOS and the role of BMI in contributing to PCOS prevalence and complications. Datasets and resources: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) commenced in 1995. Women were randomly selected from the national Medicare database and recruitment was based on mailed surveys. Three cohorts of Australian women aged 18–23, 45–50 and 70–75 years completed Survey 1 in 1996. 14,772 women (aged 18-23 years) completed Survey 1 with 60% retention through to Survey 7. The study was expanded by the addition of a new cohort (aged 18-23 in 2013), with data collected from ~ 10,000 women aged 18-23 years. The study is linked to Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data. This dataset provides a unique and significant opportunity to study the natural history of PCOS across the lifespan as it is a community-recruited representative sample (not small short-term biased clinic recruited sample). The Raine cohort from Western Australia included 2868 pregnant women with ongoing long-term family follow-up.41 It is one of the largest successful prospective cohorts of childhood, adolescence, and pregnancy in the world, with 80% of participants still active and 14 time points over 30 years with clinical data, bloods and imaging. \