MONDAY, Nov. 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Weight loss interventions are associated with improvement in some features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), according to a study published online Nov. 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Jadine Scragg, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues quantified the effect of weight loss interventions on clinical features of PCOS compared with usual care based on a review of randomized controlled trials. Twenty-nine comparisons with 1,529 participants were included in the primary analyses: 13, 12, and four comparisons were judged as high, some, or low risk for bias, respectively.

The researchers found that 12, nine, and eight of the comparisons used behavioral interventions, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, and other weight loss medications, respectively. Significantly greater improvements in Homeostasis Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance, free androgen index, and menstrual frequency were seen in association with weight loss interventions (mean difference, −0.45, −2.03, and 2.64, respectively). No evidence was seen for weight loss interventions being associated with clinically or statistically significant improvements in hirsutism, quality of life, or other sex hormones.

“Clinicians may use these findings to counsel women with PCOS on the expected improvements in PCOS markers after weight loss and direct patients toward interventions, though our findings may not extend to all weight loss interventions especially if they target specific metabolic pathways,” the authors write.

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