Who is at risk for both conditions?
Starting with uterine fibroids, genetics, ethnicity, obesity, and early menstruation have been identified as increasing women’s susceptibility to fibroid development.
The bad news is that Black women are more at risk of developing uterine fibroids across their lifetime compared to white women. While figures pit the susceptibility of white women at 70%, this for black women shoots as high as 80%. Frightening?
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Genetically, women with a family history of fibroids have increased chances of developing fibroids too.
Overweight people whose lifestyle is starved of physical activity are more at risk of developing fibroids.
Also, women who had episodes of unusually early menstruation are at higher risk of developing fibroids across their lifetime.
Moving on to PCOS, women with heightened androgen production are likelier to develop POCS. Specifically, one in ten young women who experienced relatively elevated androgen production develop PCOs later in their lives.
Hyperinsulinemia – a condition where insulin is excessively produced – is also another risk factor for PCOS. Just like fibroids, women who have a family history of PCOS have higher chances of developing this condition across their lifetime.
Having established their formative process and risk factors, does the occurrence of PCOS or uterine fibroid offset the development of the other?