A condition affecting one in eight women globally has finally been given a new name — and for millions of patients, the change is long overdue. After more than a decade of international collaboration spanning six continents, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS. The announcement was made at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague, with the findings simultaneously published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet.
The hormonal disorder is estimated to affect approximately 170 million women worldwide, making it one of the most common endocrine conditions in people assigned female at birth. Yet for decades, the name attached to it told an incomplete — and often misleading — story. Experts have long argued that the word “polycystic” steered both patients and clinicians toward the ovaries, while the condition’s far-reaching effects on metabolism, mental health, skin, and cardiovascular risk were routinely overlooked.
Leading the charge for the rename was Professor Helena Teede, director of Melbourne’s Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. Teede told the Prague conference that the old name failed to capture the “multi-system burden” carried by those living with the condition. It directed attention to a single organ, she said, when the reality is that PMOS affects virtually every endocrine system in the body.
The term “polycystic” itself was always problematic. What appears on an ultrasound as cysts are not true cysts at all — they are eggs in arrested development. Patients could be diagnosed with PCOS without ever having ovaries that looked “polycystic”, a contradiction that caused enormous confusion at the point of diagnosis. Teede was blunt: “There are no abnormal cysts in PCOS.” The new name strips away that misnomer entirely.
Why Renaming PCOS to PMOS Matters for Women’s Health and Diagnosis
For many women, the confusion began the moment they received their diagnosis. Maddy Mavrikis was just 15 years old when she was told by her GP that she had PCOS — and that she would probably never have children. That prognosis, she later learned, was simply not accurate. Her ultrasound showed no ovarian cysts at all, yet the diagnosis stood. Her mother, who works in pathology, immediately questioned whether the condition wasn’t more accurately described as hormonal. She was right — and it has taken the global medical community nearly 30 years to catch up.
Mavrikis’ experience is far from unique. Her symptoms — irregular periods, elevated androgen levels, acne, and excessive hair growth — pointed to a complex hormonal picture. She was also found to have insulin resistance, a metabolic complication that affects around 85% of women with PCOS. Despite all of this, the medical focus remained frustratingly narrow, with doctors defaulting to medication rather than addressing lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise, which are among the most effective tools for managing symptoms.
The process of settling on the new name was anything but quick. Academic discussions about renaming the condition date back to 1995, and a US National Institutes of Health forum recommended a name change as far back as 2012. What made this effort different was its scale. 56 medical and patient societies across all major world regions were brought into the process, ensuring that the change would be owned — and driven — by every group involved in the condition’s care.
Patient voices were central throughout. Advocate Lorna Berry, who has lived with the condition for over 25 years, served as a global consumer representative in the renaming workshops. She described feeling like an equal in rooms full of specialists. Her input — and that of countless other patients — directly shaped the final name. One doctor in the working group initially favoured including the word “reproductive” in the title until Berry explained why patients strongly opposed it.
Cultural sensitivity also played a critical role in the naming process. Teede noted that in parts of the world, labelling a woman’s condition as “reproductive” carries profound social stigma, directly affecting her perceived value and worth. The terms ultimately agreed upon — polyendocrine, metabolic, and ovarian — were selected precisely because they are accurate, inclusive, and free of that burden.
The transition to the new name will happen gradually. After a period of adjustment, PMOS will be fully adopted in the next update to international clinical guidelines, due for publication in 2028. In the meantime, medical professionals and patient communities are expected to begin shifting their language in line with the Lancet publication.
For women like Mavrikis, the significance of the change goes beyond semantics. She describes years of fatigue, anxiety, and disengagement from her own healthcare — at one point simply stopping her blood tests and medical appointments altogether because she was “so done with thinking about it.” Now, as she considers starting a family, the weight of that first appointment at 15 still follows her. The anxiety, she says, has been building ever since she was told she would not be able to have children — a claim that was never medically sound.
The renaming of PCOS to PMOS represents a genuine turning point in how this condition is understood, communicated, and treated. It reflects what patients have been saying for years — that this is not simply a gynaecological issue, but a complex, whole-body hormonal disorder that deserves serious, sustained medical attention. As Mavrikis put it simply: “Changing the name, for me, shows that they are starting to pay attention to it.” That shift in attention, if it translates into better diagnosis rates, broader treatment approaches, and greater research funding, could change the lives of hundreds of millions of women around the world.