Research
Hormonal
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.
Your ethnicity matters for your diabetes risk with PCOS. Asian and Hispanic/Latina women with PCOS face a higher risk than white women, even if they are the same weight. This means you may need more aggressive screening or lifestyle interventions regardless of your BMI.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
This ethnic difference retained its significance in the BMI matched subgroups among Asians and Europeans but not Americans... Women from the Asian sub-continent and the Americas showing the highest risk (5.2-fold and 4.4-fold, respectively) whereas European women had a 2.6-fold increased prevalence of IGT.
Why this rating
Subgroup analysis within a high-quality systematic review.
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
- 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.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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