Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can affect a woman’s health in multiple ways. Shape provides you with the information you need about this syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome can affect:

• a woman's menstrual cycle
• ability to have children
• hormones
• heart
• blood vessels
• appearance

The risks of complications from PCOS, such as heart attack, stroke and diabetes, increase as a woman gets older.

About one in ten women of childbearing age have polycystic ovaries.

Polycystic ovary syndrome can occur in girls as young as 11 years old. PCOS is the most common cause of female infertility. With polycystic ovaries, women typically have:

• high levels of androgens, sometimes called male hormones, although females also make them
• missed or irregular periods
• many small cysts, or fluid-filled sacs, in their ovaries

The ovaries are two small organs, one on each side of a woman's uterus. A woman's ovaries have follicles, which are tiny sacs filled with liquid that hold the eggs. These sacs also are called cysts. Each month about 20 eggs start to mature, but usually only one matures fully. As this one egg grows, the follicle accumulates fluid in it. When that egg matures, the follicle breaks open to release it. The egg then travels through the fallopian tube for fertilization. When the single egg leaves the follicle, ovulation takes place.

Discover more about the challenges faced by women with polycystic ovaries.