Poster The Annual Scientific Meeting of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2013

Contraception use and pregnancy outcome in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: data from the Australian Longitudinal Women’s Health Study (#331)

Anju Joham 1 2 , Jacqueline Boyle 2 3 , Sanjeeva Ranasinha 2 , Sophia Zoungas 1 2 , Helena Teede 1 2
  1. Southern Health, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  2. Monash Applied Research Stream, School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  3. Jean Hailes for Women's Health, Clayton, VIC , Australia

Objective: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects 6-21% of women with significant metabolic, psychological and reproductive complications (1). We aimed to examine self-reported contraceptive use, pregnancy outcome and number of children in women with and without PCOS in the large Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH).

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of a longitudinal cohort study

Setting: General community setting

Participants: Participants were women randomly selected from the community. Mailed survey data were collected at five time points. Data from respondents to survey 4 (2006), aged 28-33 (n=9145) were analysed.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported PCOS, body mass index (BMI), contraception use, pregnancy loss and number of children.

Results: Compared to women not reporting PCOS, women with PCOS were less likely to be using contraception (56% vs. 72%, p<0.001) and were more likely to be trying to conceive (49% vs. 36%, p=0.02). A greater proportion of women with PCOS experienced miscarriage (21% vs 15%, p=0.003); however, there was no significant difference in number of children between women with and without PCOS.

Conclusions: In this large community-based cohort, PCOS women were less likely to use contraception and were more likely to be trying to get pregnant. Miscarriage was more common in women with PCOS; however number of children was similar between groups.

  1. March WA, Moore VM, Willson KJ, Phillips DI, Norman RJ, Davies MJ. The prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome in a community sample assessed under contrasting diagnostic criteria. Hum Reprod. 2010;25(2):544-51.