PCOS Challenge and Healthcare Leaders Call for Support to Address Major Health Disparities for Women with PCOS

ATLANTA, Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- For far too long, the system has been broken for women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), leading to major health disparities and increased health risks for millions of women including infertility, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Many doctors are missing the diagnosis, leaving patients without appropriate treatment. To compound the problem, PCOS support and awareness organizations are severely and disproportionately underfunded compared to nearly every other major health condition. The lack of funding extends into PCOS research, stifling advancements.

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PCOS is a disorder of hormone imbalance that affects one in 10 women of childbearing age. It is the most common endocrine disorder in women and can have devastating effects on their physical and mental health. In an effort to create greater awareness about PCOS and to educate healthcare professionals and patients about the disorder, PCOS Challenge, one of the largest PCOS support organizations, will bring together hundreds of members of the PCOS community and an elite group of healthcare leaders for its PCOS Awareness Symposium. The event will be held on September 21, 2014 at Lake Lanier Islands Resort in Buford, Georgia.

"About 20 percent of women in America have the metabolic abnormalities associated with PCOS. This is a real challenge," says Dr. Mark Perloe, Medical Director of Georgia Reproductive Specialists, who will be speaking on improving fertility in women with PCOS at the symposium. "Everyday we read in the news about obesity and the diabetes epidemic. We learn about people who are having trouble conceiving. The PCOS Awareness Symposium offers organizations an excellent opportunity to get involved and to be leaders in supporting families across America, as well as their employees and customers affected by PCOS."

Dr. Andrea Dunaif, renowned PCOS researcher for over 20 years, and Vice Chair for Research at the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine says, "It is now recognized that PCOS is a leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes in adolescent and young adult women. There is a strong genetic susceptibility to PCOS and about 40 percent of sisters have some form of the syndrome. Fathers and brothers also have insulin resistance and tend to have problems with weight control. Daughters of affected women have risk factors for diabetes before they even get their periods. PCOS is a major metabolic disorder that affects women and their relatives across their lifespan, in addition to its reproductive symptoms in premenopausal women. Educational events such as the PCOS Awareness Symposium, coupled with robust research funding, are essential for improving the recognition, diagnosis, treatment and long-term health outcomes of women with PCOS and their families."

"We are all gathering for this major event because we are committed to changing the future for women with PCOS," says Sasha Ottey, Executive Director of PCOS Challenge. "I would like to recognize our symposium sponsors and presenters as visionary leaders and true champions for women with PCOS. These leaders understand the urgent need for the healthcare industry to treat PCOS as a public health priority and are asking other organizations to step up and do the same."

PCOS Awareness Symposium sponsors include Georgia Regents Health System, Georgia Regents University, Androgen Excess and PCOS Society, Southwest Airlines, American Electrology Association, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Georgia Reproductive Specialists, Reproductive Biology Associates, Theralogix Reproductive Health, PCOS Nutrition Center, NVN Therapeutics, Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic, Publix Pharmacy, and Fairhaven Health.

For more information, visit http://www.pcoschallenge.org/symposium.

Contact:
Kali Mincy
(404) 855-7244

SOURCE PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association