The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome on women’s quality of life: Nursing guidelines for its management

Abstract

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an uncertain etiology heterogeneous disorder, which affects 6.0% to 10.0% of women in their reproductive age. Aim: assess phenotypic characteristics of women with PCOS, discovery the association between women’s quality-of-life (QOL) and its occurrence and improve women’s knowledge & increase awareness regarding PCOS.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design had been utilized on a purposive sample of 300 women in reproductive age with PCOS in the gynecological outpatient clinic at Beni-Suef General Hospital, Egypt. A structured interviewing schedule, patient’s assessment record, visual-analogue-scale, Ferriman-Gallwey-Evaluation-of-Hirsutism, QOL Questionnaire, Short-Form-Health-Survey (SF-36), and designed intervention nursing-guideline had been used for data collection.
Results: A high percentage (56.7%) of women had a complete phenotype characteristics of PCOS. The most prevalent phenotypic characteristics were alopecia (65.0%), irregular menses (58.7%), and obesity/overweight (48.1%). Statistically significant was found between women’s general characteristic of PCOS and their age, body-mass-index, hirsutism, and average cycle length, p < .05. Women’s QOL had affected negatively by PCO Syndrome, p < .05.
Conclusions: PCOS is a common risk factor for acne, alopecia, hirsutism. Many factors to be associated with its phenotype as: body-mass-index, hirsutism, and average cycles length. It has a negative impact on phenotype characteristic, psychological/social domain and total QOL scale. The nursing guideline had a crucial role in the improvement of women’s knowledge in allover items of women’s knowledge.
Recommendation: Upgrading women’s knowledge concerning PCOS with a periodic screening of women for early detection and management. Health-Promotion-Programs through different media to improve QOL for women with PCOS.