Prevalence of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Awareness Among Female Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is one of the most common causes of infertility in woman, affecting 4-18% of reproductive aged women worldwide. It is characterized by hormonal imbalance leading to reproductive, metabolic and psychological dysfunction. It is a multi-organ syndrome affecting both female gonads and the pituitary gland. Polycystic ovary syndrome is idiopathic in occurrence. However, recent studies suggest that it can be caused by inherent abnormalities of ovarian steroidogenesis, follicular development, excessive gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), and reduced follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge and level of awareness of female students about polycystic ovary syndrome. To determine the prevalence of the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome. Methods: A cross sectional type of quantitative study was conducted following the approval from the Ethical Review Committee. The study was carried out on a sample of medical students, with a calculated sample size of 278 individuals according to the World Health Organization (WHO) formula. A questionnaire-based survey was implemented. Results: The most important question was regarding the awareness of polycystic ovary syndrome and to our interest 74.5% of the participants were aware of the disease. 42.2% of the participants gained knowledge of the disease from social media and the internet. The diagnosed cases of polycystic ovary syndrome in the sample was 11.2%, among which 41.9 % are receiving the treatment. Conclusion: The majority of the female medical students (74.5%) were aware of polycystic ovary syndrome in female medical students. 33.8% of the participants had a normal menstrual cycle of 28 days. A noticeable percentage of students had polycystic ovary syndrome and were under treatment. Our study can be further used to determine relations between polycystic ovary syndrome and a variety of factors, such as the duration of menstrual cycle, body mass index (BMI) or symptoms of this syndrome, such as the weight gain and acne.