The management of women in the climateric and menopause who have a diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome

Young women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) frequently ask the question ‘What will happen at the menopause?’. For many, the main issue of concern is not the cardiovascular or diabetes risk, but the natural history of the common PCOS symptoms-hirsutism and menstrual irregularity. The difficulty in providing information to a woman with PCOS approaching the menopause is that very few studies have focused on this age group, and even fewer have longitudinally tracked the natural history over the vital transition time between 45 and 55 years of age. In order to place the sparse literature in context it is useful to review the relevant aspects of normal menopause transition.