Research shows link between PCOS and Anxiety

By Caribbean Medical News Staff
One may be of the opinion, that getting pelvic cysts and potentially struggling with fertility issues couldn’t get any worse, however, women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are also greater risk of developing anxiety. Now, a new study suggests how all of these things might be related.
The study was published in the National Academy of Sciences. It show how researchers exposed pregnant rats and their fetuses to testosterone, which mimics the effects of PCOS in humans. As the researchers estimated, offspring of the rats showed more anxious behavior — they were more hesitant to venture into the unprotected open arms of a maze — than those rats that didn’t receive the testosterone treatment.
Seeking to further prove the efficacy of the study, the researchers additionally tested how hormones and receptors could be involved: Some rats were treated with flutamide, which prevents testosterone from activating its receptors in the brain, and others received tamoxifen, which blocks estrogen receptors. After getting doses of these drugs, the rats didn’t show the same increased anxiety as the groups that only got testosterone. This suggests that the hormones and receptors that play a role in anxiety are similar to those that affect PCOS.
While this study was done with rats, similar connections were seen in humans: Up to two in 10 women in the U.S. have PCOS, and about 60% of them also show symptoms of anxiety, depression, or another mental illness. Although we don’t know what causes PCOS, we do know that it involves our hormones being out of whack and causing things such as intense pelvic pain, facial hair, and infertility.
Experts are still learning a lot about the link between PCOS and mental illness, but there’s already a wealth of other research showing just how connected our moods and anxiety are to our hormones. Hopefully, the researchers can use the findings of the study to find a way to treat both the physical and mental symptoms of PCOS.