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Copenhagen (pte056/23.06.2005/17:05) - Research done in Adelaide, Australia, has found that infertility problems in women stem from how girls develop in their mother's womb.
Although they may not be diagnosed, one in five women is thought to suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which is caused by cysts on the ovaries that produce hormonal irregularities. Women with PCOS may also have irregular periods, be obese, suffer from acne and have excess body and facial hair.
Dr Michael Davies, from the University of Adelaide in Australia http://www.adelaide.edu.au led the study. "Symptoms of PCOS were fairly common," he said at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Copenhagen http://www.eshre.com this week.
Davies and his research team studied 544 women born between 1973 and 1975. They found that women who hadn't been diagnosed with PCOS but had irregular periods were heavier at birth and had larger placentas. Their mothers also tended to be heavier in late pregnancy. In contrast, women with PCOS tended to weigh 196gm less on average than those without the condition, and they had smaller placentas.
Davies says that pregnancy and birth influence the various symptoms of PCOS in later life.
"One pathway may be mediated by high maternal weight in late pregnancy, which is linked to irregular periods in the daughter, and possibly obesity and weight-related reproduction problems," he said.
"A second pathway may involve reduced placental and foetal growth, which is linked to the more severe symptoms of PCOS in the daughter, usually resulting in an early clinical diagnosis of the syndrome.
"A foetus that has been affected by restricted growth is more likely to have problems with insulin metabolism in later life due to an underlying metabolic problem. In women, this problem appears to be associated with PCOS and is most evident where there is a constellation of symptoms of increasing severity."
Chairwoman of a Glasgow-based support group for couples with fertility problems, Sam MacCuish, said the earlier women know about possible problems such as PCOS, the better.
"There are a number of women in the support group I run who have spent the last ten years trying not to get pregnant, then they discover in their early or mid-thirties that they have these problems, which puts them in a much lower success rate for IVF," she said.
The severity of PCOS can be reduced through diet and avoiding certain oral contraceptives. Chances of successful IVF are heightened if treatment starts at an earlier age.
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