Research
Hormonal
Women with PCOS have a significantly higher prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) compared to women without PCOS, with the magnitude of risk varying by ethnicity.
If you have PCOS, you are at a significantly higher risk for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes than women without PCOS, regardless of your weight. You should undergo regular screening (like an OGTT) as recommended by your doctor, rather than waiting for symptoms to appear.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
On meta-analysis of quality studies, women with PCOS had an increased prevalence of IGT (OR = 3.26, 95% CI: 2.17–4.90) and T2DM (OR = 2.87, 95% CI: 1.44–5.72), which differed by ethnicity (for IGT, Asia: 5-fold, the Americas: 4-fold and Europe: 3-fold)
Why this rating
Systematic review and meta-analysis of 40 quality studies with random-effects modeling.
Source
Ethnicity, obesity and the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes in PCOS: a systematic review and meta-regression
Nadira Sultana Kakoly et al. · Human Reproduction Update · 2018
DOI 10.1093/humupd/dmy007
Meta-analysis · 40 studiesCited 375×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- The increased risk of IGT and T2DM in PCOS is significantly modified by ethnicity, with Asian and American populations showing higher odds ratios than European populations, and this risk persists even when BMI is matched.Good
- The method of diagnosing diabetes significantly impacts the observed prevalence in PCOS, with self-report or administrative records doubling the odds ratio compared to prospective blood-based techniques.Moderate
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