Background: To estimate the prevalence of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in Chinese women comprehensively and to provide references to prevent PCOS.
Methods: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Chinese Biology Medicine, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL, CINAHL were searched to collect studies on the prevalence of PCOS from database inception from March 31, 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the articles, extracted data, and tested the risk of bias of the included studies. Then Stata 15.1 software performed a meta-analysis. Begg's and Egger's method were used to assess the risk of publication bias.
Results: A total of 69 studies were involved, including 154,599 participants, 12,845 patients developed PCOS. The prevalence of PCOS was 10.01% (95% CI: 8.31% to 11.89%). Subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence of PCOS in different regions was as follows: 13.35% in the west, 7.82% in the east, 14.24% in the middle, and 8.68% in the north-east. Subgroup analysis by occupation/status: the prevalence rates of workers, students, medical staff, cadres, farmers, staff, and service staff were respectively 10.37%, 16.37%, 13.97%, 6.05%, 7.05%, 8.05%, 9.05%. For individuals aged 10 to 20, between 21 and 30, 31 to 40, and above 40, the prevalence rate was 10.26%, 17.23%, 9.13%, 2.22%, respectively. The prevalence rates of PCOS 1995 to 2000 were 21.04%, from 2001 to 2005, was 5.86%, from 2006 to 2010 was 10.78%, from 2011 to 2015 was 11.44%, and during 2016 to 2020 was 5.79%. Hospital-based community-based and school-based studies were 13.41%, 5.95%, 3.01%. According to the subgroup analysis of the surveyed population, the prevalence of PCOS in the general population and infertility patients were 6.05% and 13.69%, respectively.
Conclusions: The prevalence rate of PCOS is high in Chinese women, and the prevalence of PCOS varies with different regions, occupation/identity, age, time of publication, diagnostic criteria, survey time, and prevalence of the surveyed population.
Keywords: Chinese woman; meta-analysis; polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS); prevalence.