The Prevalence and Risk of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in Women with Epilepsy: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Authors

Zahra Shahraki, Mohsen Rastkar, Elnaz Rastkar, Aida Mohamadi, Mahsa Ghajarzadeh

Published in

Maedica. Volume 21. Issue 2. Pages 347-355.

Abstract

Women with epilepsy suffer from a wide range of endocrine dysfunctions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). The literature shows various prevalence rates of PCOS in women with epilepsy/seizures. So, we designed this study to estimate the pooled prevalence of PCOS in women with epilepsy/seizures.
PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science and Google Scholar were systematically searched by two independent researchers on March 1st 2023.
A literature search revealed 1377 records, of which 120 full-texts were evaluated and finally, 28 studies remained for the present systematic review. Most studies were from India, followed by Finland and Italy. A total of 2587 cases with epilepsy and 607 controls were evaluated. Studies were published between 1984 and 2022. The estimated pooled prevalence of PCOS in women with epilepsy was 19% [95% confidence interval (CI) 14-23%] (I2=91.7%, p<0.001). The estimated odds ratio of PCOS in women with epilepsy was 3.07 (95% CI 1.94-4.85) (I2=43.6%, p=0.07). The estimated prevalence of PCOS in women treated with valproic acid (VAL) was 32% (95% CI 20-45%) (I2=87.9%, P<0.001).
The results of this systematic review show that the pooled prevalence of PCOS in women with epilepsy is 19% and the risk of developing PCOS is three-fold higher than in healthy women.

PMID:
42416779
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Jul 2026.

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