{"id":198725,"date":"2026-05-21T10:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/198725\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:11:06","slug":"why-pcos-became-pmos-and-what-that-means-for-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/198725\/","title":{"rendered":"Why PCOS became PMOS \u2014 and what that means for patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

One of the most common conditions affecting women \u2014 an estimated 1 in 10 worldwide \u2014 has gotten a name change that doctors hope will help dispel myths and lead to better care.\n<\/p>\n

Polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, is a lifelong condition that\u2019s best known for causing irregular periods, hormone imbalances and difficulty getting pregnant.\n<\/p>\n

But its effects go far beyond the reproductive system, said Dr. Anuja Dokras, director of the Penn PCOS Center. And the new name of the PCOS Center at Penn Fertility Care will soon reflect that.\n <\/p>\n

The new name \u2014 polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS \u2014 emphasizes research, which was outlined in a recent paper published in The Lancet<\/a> medical journal, that announced the name change. The authors include a host of metabolic conditions, including obesity, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, as well as psychological effects like depression, anxiety and eating disorders.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was considered as a gynecologic condition affecting women\u2019s health,\u201d Dokras said. \u201cAnd over the last two to three decades, my research and other international researchers have shown that this condition is not just about reproduction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Dokras, who co-authored the paper, said that the condition\u2019s previous name left a lot of these symptoms out of the conversation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the focus had been so much on reproduction, counseling regarding all these other complications was either not done or inadequate,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we\u2019re hoping, from a patient perspective, this is going to be a big change.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The name change is also designed to clear up a persistent point of confusion that Dokras said frequently eats up the limited time physicians have to explain PMOS to their patients.\n<\/p>\n

\u201c[PCOS] suggests that there are cysts within the ovaries,\u201d Dokras said. \u201cAnd when you think about anything that\u2019s a cyst \u2014 [it\u2019s] fluid-filled, it ruptures, it causes pain \u2014 that\u2019s not what we see in PMOS.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[36854,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-198725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-penn-medicine","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}