More researchers are studying a hormone disorder that affects young women. A Jefferson doctor says it’s about time.

For decades, polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormone disorder that affects women of childbearing age, was underdiagnosed, understudied, and underfunded.

That’s starting to change. Patricia Davis, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Jefferson Abington Hospital, said growing research and resources are dedicated to the complicated disorder. Called PCOS, it affects an estimated 5 to 6 million women in the U.S. and roughly 7 to 13% of women globally.

“The problem with women’s health in general is we are way behind on research, because research hasn’t been prioritized for disorders that affect women traditionally,” Davis said. “Finally, we are looking at other impacts of PCOS in terms of how it affects our long-term health.”

Women with PCOS are at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and new studies link it to midlife cognitive decline and digestive and intestinal problems. The disorder can make it harder for women to get pregnant.

Davis said it’s important for women to “really pay attention to their bodies and their menstrual cycle.”

“It’s something we don’t talk about enough in general society — it kind of has a stigma associated with it,” said Davis, who is the Ob/GYN residency director at Abington.

The Inquirer talked to Davis about PCOS. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

It is a disorder of endocrine, or hormonal, and metabolic components. We don’t really know the exact cause, meaning we don’t know exactly why some women get PCOS and other women do not. It’s a syndrome that’s composed of certain symptoms that potentially can lead to more chronic health issues for women in the future. It affects reproductive-aged woman, so starting with the time you’re going through puberty — so anywhere as early as 9, but really about age 13 — through going through menopause.

The symptoms of PCOS include hyperandrogenism, or elevated levels of testosterone above what’s normal in women, which results in excessive hair growth in facial areas or more male-pattern hair growth. Also, more severe acne can be a sign of elevated testosterone. Another component is irregular menstrual cycles, specifically, oligomenorrhea, which means less periods than are normal. If you are only having two or three periods a year, you only have maybe two or three opportunities to become pregnant in a year. That is the hard part.

Yes. Insulin resistance is associated with PCOS. As a result, that can lead to obesity. We make insulin in our pancreas. So you eat something and your blood is seeing sugar or glucose. So glucose is the by-product of any food that we eat — it gets broken down into its basic form whether that’s protein or carbs. When your body sees glucose, it starts a hormonal cascade that leads to the pancreas releasing insulin and then insulin is what opens the doors to your cells to allow the cells to absorb glucose from your bloodstream. Essentially, in women with PCOS, their body is not processing glucose as efficiently.

If I’m suspicious of PCOS because of not having regular periods or not having periods at all, with excessive hair growth and acne, I will get a blood test to rule out a thyroid disorder and then also one to check the prolactin level to make sure it’s not elevated. (Prolactin is a hormone that promotes lactation. Elevated levels can cause irregular menstruation). Also, then you would get a transvaginal ultrasound to look at the number of developing eggs that are seen in their ovaries.

People often think — even women who have gone through this workup and have a diagnosis — that they have a lot of cysts on their ovaries. The true fact is, if you think of the ovary like a chocolate chip cookie, with PCOS, the chocolate chips are all around the periphery. The follicles, or egg sac cysts, are very much stimulated, so there’s the capacity for healthy eggs in there, but that ovary is not releasing an egg every month due to a slight hormonal imbalance. You are capable of getting pregnant. You have eggs in your ovaries, but you will likely need assistance in order to successfully get pregnant.

There is not a cure. We have medications when it comes to becoming pregnant, so medications that are going to help a woman ovulate. In terms of regulation of hormones and having more predictable menstrual cycles, the go-to, first-line medication is combined oral contraceptive pills. There are other medications that can treat the symptoms of hirsutism, or the facial hair, and the acne.

To learn more about PCOS, go to The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association, a nonprofit advocacy and awareness group with 55,000 members, at https://pcoschallenge.com/.