‘Unprecedented’ global effort gives new name to polycystic ovary syndrome – and new hope to millions of women

Decades-long campaign powered by patient perspectives results in switch from PCOS – a name that caused confusion and undue suffering – to PMOS

What is PCOS, what are the symptoms and treatment, and why is it being renamed PMOS?

After more than a decade of global consultation, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – a condition that affects one in eight women – has been renamed.

The hormonal disorder, estimated to impact 170 million women worldwide, will now be known as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS).

The name change was published in the Lancet and announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague on Tuesday, after 14 years of collaboration between international societies and patient groups across six continents.