PCOS ups risk of hypertension in women

Hypertension is more likely to arise from early adulthood among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), independent of body mass index (BMI), suggests a study. In addition, obesity may further exacerbate this condition.

Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health was carried out to assess the incidence of hypertension in those with and without PCOS over a 15-year period. Women in the general community were randomly chosen from the national health insurance database: 9,508 participants aged 21–42 years were followed from 2000 to 2015.

The investigators used Cox proportional hazards model to conduct a survival analysis, which identified predictors of hypertension. They also did a person-time analysis to calculate incidence rates of hypertension.

Of the women who were followed for 145,158 person-years (PY), 1,556 (16.37 percent) developed hypertension. The incidence of hypertension was notably higher (p=0.001) among those with PCOS (17/1,000 PY) than those without (10/1,000 PY). Women with known PCOS status reached a total of 8,223. Of these, 681 (8.3 percent) had self-reported physician-diagnosed PCOS.

Of note, obese women with PCOS had a fourfold higher incidence rate difference of hypertension (cases attributable to PCOS) than age-matched lean women with PCOS (15.8 vs 4.3 per 1,000 PY).

PCOS independently correlated with a 37-percent higher risk of hypertension (hazard ratio, 1.37, 95 percent confidence interval, 1.14–1.65), adjusting for BMI, family history of hypertension, occupation, and comorbidity with type 2 diabetes.

“Including PCOS in hypertension risk stratification assessments may aid efforts in early identification of the disorder,” the investigators said.