Trondheim: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and obesity are more likely to have small babies in terms of birth weight, length and head circumference, according to a recent study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). PCOS is a hormonal disease that affects one in every eight women. Male sex hormone levels often increase, menstruation becomes irregular or rare, and small cysts develop on the ovaries.
In the study, 390 children born to women with PCOS were compared with nearly 70,000 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Researchers found that, on average, children born to mothers with PCOS weighed There was less, they were shorter, and their head circumference was also smaller. This was especially true for obese mothers, who had a BMI of 30 or higher.
“Among normal weight women who have PCOS, we find that their babies have lower birth weights than women with PCOS. The group of babies born to mothers with obesity is the most different. These babies are underweight, short in height and have a smaller head circumference. Obesity places additional burden on mothers with PCOS and their babies,” said Professor Ester Vanki in NTNU's Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine.
PCOS is a disease that plagues women throughout their lives and can lead to many metabolic diseases and challenges like diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Women with PCOS are generally more likely to develop overweight and obesity.
“What is unusual is that women who are generally overweight and gain a lot of weight during pregnancy generally have a higher risk of giving birth to larger babies. This also applies to women who have gestational diabetes. On average, women with PCOS tend to gain more weight during pregnancy, and 25 percent of them develop gestational diabetes. However, the outcome is the opposite: these women have more babies. give birth to babies who are smaller than average We still don't know why it happens, but we do see that the placenta is affected in these women,” Vanke said.
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