Diabetes: Women with PCOS may have excessive androgen secretion. This causes the development of carbohydrate metabolism disorders with an increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).
Hypertension: chronic elevation in blood pressure due to obesity.
Cardiovascular Disease: Hypertension, elevated levels of cholesterol, lipids with higher LDL and lower HDL levels; triglycerides, insulin and obesity are associated with PCOS. Lean women with PCOS have a profile of risk factors for heart disease that places them at a level of risk that is similar to obese women. These chronic conditions cause stress on the cardiac status of the patient, causing cardiovascular disease.
Endometrial Cancer: In some patients, the over production of androstenedione results in the accumulation of estrogen primarily due to the conversion of androstenedione to estrone. If levels of estrone remain high, the presence of this estrogen along with estradiol (a common estrogen produced by the ovaries) may predispose certain patients with PCOS in the development of uterine endometrial cancer.
