Anxiety and Depression in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Mental health disorders are often the consequence of hormonal disorders such as those accompanying polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), where changes in appearance and having to deal with a number of other problems occur due to this illness. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of anxiety and depression symptoms, the level of ego-resiliency, and the ways that women with PCOS cope with stress compared to healthy women in order to determine the influence of socio-demographic characteristics in relation to levels of anxiety and depression with ego-resiliency and stress-coping methods. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in Poland in 2021 and included 230 women with PCOS and 199 healthy controls aged 20–40 years old. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADs), ego-resiliency scale, as well as the MINI-COPE inventory were used. Results: The women with PCOS had higher levels of anxiety and depression and poorer ego-resiliency in comparison to the healthy women. The women with PCOS used passive stress-coping strategies significantly more commonly than the healthy women. Living in rural areas, having a lower level of education and being childless increased anxiety levels. Similarly, being over 30, living in a rural area, having a lower level of education, being childless, and being obese increased depression levels in the women with PCOS. A low level of ego-resiliency and passive stress-coping strategies are predictors of high levels of anxiety and depression in women with PCOS. Conclusions: Women with PCOS should be checked for anxiety and depression. They should also be checked to see whether they have the resources to cope with chronic stress in order to optimize therapeutic interventions.

Illness-Perception, Coping Strategies and Psychological Distress among Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Women

“…Similar results were reported from a study conducted in Italy, highlighted emotion focused coping and avoidant coping strategies are short term effective. The result of present study further reported that emotion coping and avoidant coping directly affect their quality of life 7 .…”

“…These clinical sign of PCOS are critical warning lead to serious mental health consequences 14 . Similarly, a study in Italy reported that high prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms due to infertility, body dissatisfaction, low quality of life and physical symptoms of the body in PCOS 7 . It was reported that 40% women suffered from depression and psychological distress such as difficulty in coping with stress, anxiety and low quality of life while suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome in their adolescent age 12 .…”

“…Inefficient coping strategies cause high illness perception risk led to physiological and psychologically disturbances contribute to mental health 7,14 .…”

Mental health latent profiles and emotion regulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a cross-sectional study

“…First, without the need to have children, most women with PCOS showed good mental health, with only a portion of PCOS women showing symptoms of anxiety and depression due to menstrual disorders, obesity, and acne, and general well-being was not compromised (Bazarganipour et al, 2013;Joshi et al, 2022). Second, when women with PCOS want children, parental urgency, stigma, work stress, and repeated hospital visits may lead to high anxiety and depression symptoms and significantly lower subjective well-being (Dybciak et al, 2022;Ee et al, 2020).…”

Acupuncture for emotional disorder and quality of life in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome-A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…It is generally believed that they may be related to PCOS symptoms (obesity, hairiness, acne, infertility, etc. ), excessive androgen secretion or other factors [10][11][12]. However, some studies have shown that high BMI or hyperandrogenism is not related to the symptoms of anxiety or depression [8].…”