Cardiovascular disease risk in women with hyperandrogenism, oligomenorrhea/menstrual irregularity or polycystic ovaries (components of polycystic ovary syndrome): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aims: Prior meta-analyses indicate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but have high statistical heterogeneity, likely because PCOS is a heterogenous syndrome diagnosed by having any two of the three components: hyperandrogenism, oligomenorrhea/menstrual irregularity or polycystic ovaries. Several studies report higher risk of CVDs from individual PCOS components, but a comprehensive assessment of how each component contributes to CVD risk is lacking. This study aims to assess CVD risk for women with one of the PCOS components. Methods and results: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies was conducted. PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched without restrictions in July 2022. Studies meeting inclusion criteria examined the association between PCOS components and risk of a CVD. Two reviewers independently assessed abstracts and full-text articles, and extracted data from eligible studies. Where appropriate, relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by random-effects meta-analysis. Statistical heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. Twenty-three studies, including 346 486 women, were identified. Oligo-amenorrhea/menstrual irregularity was associated with overall CVD (RR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.09-1.53), coronary heart disease (CHD) (RR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.06-1.41), and myocardial infarction (MI) (RR = 1.37, 95%CI = 1.01-1.88) but not cerebrovascular disease. These results were broadly consistent even after further adjustment for obesity. There was mixed evidence for the role of hyperandrogenism in CVDs. No studies examined polycystic ovaries as an independent exposure for CVD risk. Conclusion: Oligo-amenorrhea/menstrual irregularity is associated with greater risk of overall CVD, CHD, and MI. More research is needed to assess the risks associated with hyperandrogenism or polycystic ovaries.

Future Cardiovascular Disease Risk for Women With Gestational Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background Inconsistent findings have been found among studies evaluating the risk of cardiovascular disease for women who have had pregnancies complicated by gestational hypertension (the new onset of high blood pressure without proteinuria during pregnancy). We provide a comprehensive review of studies to quantify the association between gestational hypertension and cardiovascular events in women. Methods and Results We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science in March 2019 for studies examining the association between gestational hypertension and any cardiovascular event. Two reviewers independently assessed the abstracts and full-text articles. Study characteristics and the relative risk (RR) of cardiovascular events associated with gestational hypertension were extracted from the eligible studies. Where appropriate, the estimates were pooled with inverse variance weighted random-effects meta-analysis. A total of 21 studies involving 3 60 1192 women (127 913 with gestational hypertension) were identified. Gestational hypertension in the first pregnancy was associated with a greater risk of overall cardiovascular disease (RR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.17-1.80) and coronary heart disease (RR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.23-1.73), but not stroke (RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.96-1.65) or thromboembolic events (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.73-1.07). Women with 1 or more pregnancies affected by gestational hypertension were at greater risk of cardiovascular disease (RR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.42-2.31), coronary heart disease (RR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.33-2.51), and heart failure (RR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.47-2.13), but not stroke (RR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.75-2.99). Conclusions Gestational hypertension is associated with a greater risk of overall cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and heart failure. More research is needed to assess the presence of a dose-response relationship between gestational hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular disease. Registration URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prosp​ero/; Unique identifier: CRD42018119031.