What are the effects of chronic anovulation?
The most common symptom in PCOS and the cause of the associated infertility, is an ovulatory disturbance which causes irregular menstrual cycles. Women with PCOS typically have periods that occur more than thirty-five days apart or have fewer than eight periods a year. Some women do not even have periods as a result of the complete lack of ovulation. Lack of ovulation provides fewer opportunities for sperm to encounter an egg and therefore fewer opportunities to achieve pregnancy. If ovulation is irregular, it may also become difficult to determine a woman’s fertile window, which typically lasts only 24-48 hours. Apart from fertility concerns, infrequent menstruation can increase the chance of endometrial hyperplasia (thickened lining of the uterus) and endometrial cancer. What are the effects of hyperandrogenism? Hyperandrogenism is an excess of male hormones (like testosterone). Hyperandrogenism contributes to the ovulation disturbance that is seen and may also affect egg quality. In
