Infertility, hormonal disorders in women linked to obesity
Kounteya Sinha
[ 2 Jan, 2007 0026hrs IST
TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NEW DELHI: More and more obese women in India are finding it hard to conceive. The reason: Nearly 90% of them suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a complex hormonal disorder that affects a woman's menstrual cycle, fertility and insulin production.
It's also a precursor to conditions including Type II diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney complications.
Gynaecologists and endocrinologists report that nearly 35% of women in India in their reproductive age suffer from PCOS. Besides a failure to ovulate, PCOS also causes an overproduction of androgens (male sex hormones) and estrogen, resulting in excessive facial and body hair in women.
The prevalence of PCOS is rising because of increasing obesity. What's worse, experts report an increasing number of obese girls, as young as 10 years of age, being diagnosed with the condition.
Apollo Hospital endocrinologist Dr S K Wangnoo said, "I see over 50 patients with PCOS every month, most of them within 14-28 years of age.
Over 80% of them with abnormal body weight. Most of them suffer from infertility and abnormal menstrual cycle. The condition has started to become common, due to unhealthy lifestyles of the younger generation."
Dr Gita Gan guly Mukherjee, former HoD of gynaecology at R G Kar Hospital, Kolkata, says two main reasons are responsible for young girls being diagnosed with PCOS. "Girls with no siblings tend to be pampered from an early age with their diet comprising heavily of junk food.
Secondly, the tremendous academic load in schools leaves children with no time to play or exercise, resulting in them gaining weight. In south-east Asia, over 40% girls in their reproductive age suffer from PCOS," Dr Mukherjee said.
She is launching an update on the latest number of women suffering from PCOS, and the main reasons behind it, at the All India Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, starting in Kolkata on January 5. The condition, its spread and ways of curbing it will be the main focus at the Congress.
On ways to prevent PCOS, Dr Mukherjee said, "Exercise and weight loss are the best ways to improve insulin sensitivity and improve the metabolic abnormalities associated with PCOS. Weight loss improves menstrual cyclicity, rate of ovulation and likelihood of a healthy pregnancy".
Obesity leads to infertility and hormonal disorders
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