Women with the newly renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) should be diagnosed sooner and offered an annual review, guidance suggests.

New draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has suggested that patients with Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) should be diagnosed sooner and offered an annual review.

This will monitor symptoms, treatment and long-term health risks of the condition, which was until last month known as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

NICE has released its draft guideline as the first on this syndrome tailored towards the UK population, ahead of a public consultation. 

PMOS’ recent renaming reflects the wide-ranging hormonal, metabolic and reproductive effects it brings to around one in eight women. Despite this prevalence, patients often suffer with irregular periods, high testosterone levels and ovaries with multiple small follicles for too long without formal diagnoses or correct management techniques. 

They are also more likely to experience other health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnoea, fatty liver disease, mental health problems and complications in pregnancy. Yet awareness remains low, both in medical circles and the public.

The draft guideline aims to tackle this by recommending annual reviews to explore issues including excess hair growth, medicine use, and how lifestyle changes could help to prevent more serious illnesses. 

Messages for medics

It also suggests that doctors investigate everyone with irregular or absent periods and symptoms of excessive levels of male hormones for PMOS, and shouldn’t rule out PMOS in women who have been through menopause. NICE reminds medics that PMOS may be more common in Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women.

Healthcare professionals should also consider mental health, including how eating disorders disproportionately affect those with PMOS, and quality of life, as well as issuing advice on pregnancy, weight, diet, nutrition, exercise and sleep.

“PMOS is a common but often overlooked condition that can have a major impact on health and wellbeing… Recommending a simple annual review is an important step towards ensuring people get the ongoing care and monitoring they need,” commented Marie Anne Ledingham, consultant clinical advisor for women’s and reproductive health at NICE.

Healthcare professionals, alongside patients and the public, can respond to the draft consultation until early August 2026. The final guideline will be published in December.