A systematic review and meta-analysis of the correlation between polycystic ovary syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome.

Zhaokang Wei, Zuhui Chen, Wenle Xiao, Gangjie Wu

Journal: Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology 2023;39(1):2239933

PMID: 37494961

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Plain Language Summary

The pathophysiology of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains elusive, the correlation between IBS and PCOS has been validated. This study's aim was to quantify the relationship between IBS and PCOS by estimating the odds ratio of IBS in PCOS patients. This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of six studies in qualitative synthesis and five studies in quantitative synthesis. Results showed approximately 2.2 times elevated IBS risk in PCOS patient. Among six studies involved in this systematic review, a case-control study reported a negative relationship between IBS and PCOS, while most studies reported a positive association, which confirmed the pooled estimates results. Authors concluded that their study found a significant association between increased odds of IBS and PCOS.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Research on the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients has gained significant momentum over the years. However, it remains unclear whether PCOS is related to a higher prevalence of IBS. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to fully study IBS correlation with PCOS.

METHODS

From inception until October 16th, 2022, all observational studies documenting IBS prevalence in PCOS patients were collected from the China national knowledge infrastructure(CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database(VIP), Wanfang database, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases. The quality of case-control studies was assessed with Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Review Manager 5.3 was used to determine the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

RESULTS

5 case-control studies involving 1268 individuals and one cross-sectional study involving 291 participants were included in our qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis was conducted based on five case-control studies. Four case-control studies involving 1063 participants showed a higher prevalence of IBS in PCOS This meta-analysis revealed an almost twice higher risk of IBS in comparison with controls (OR = 2.23, 95%CI:1.58-3.14, < 0.001; I=41%, = 0.150). Four sensitivity analyses validated the consistency of the aggregated findings.

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis and systematic review demonstrated a significant association between PCOS and increased odds of IBS. However, more high-quality and well-controlled research is essential to increase the robustness of our conclusions.

Address: Department of General Medicine, Jinan University First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.1080/09513590.2023.2239933