Sex and Gender Differences in Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolic Physiology and Pathophysiology- Chapter 3: Cardiovascular consequences in offspring of women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Does sex matter?

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder affecting women at reproductive age. PCOS women struggle to get pregnant and are at high risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes that include abnormal birth weight children. The maternal in-utero environment in PCOS is characterized by hyperandrogenemia and is complicated by the metabolic dysregulation observed in PCOS women. Despite limited evidence from the literature on the increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) anomalies or CV disease (CVD) in PCOS children and despite the lessons we learned from the literature about the developmental origins of adult disease, it remains undefined whether PCOS children develop hypertension or CVD as adults or with further aging. Studies addressing those risks in both sons and daughters of PCOS women are clearly warranted.