Myoinositol or D-chiro-inositol for PCOS symptoms in adolescents: a narrative review
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Bibi Zeyah Fatemah Sairally
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Rima K. Dhillon-Smith
Abstract
Background
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) treatment in adolescents currently focuses on lifestyle interventions, with pharmacological treatment options often limited to hormonal contraceptives. Several of these carry broad side-effect profiles and are not always accepted by young girls. There is growing interest in non-hormonal therapies for PCOS. We aimed to collate the evidence on the use of myoinositol or D-chiro-inositol in the improvement of PCOS symptoms in symptomatic adolescents.
Content
A systematic literature review identifying key articles from inception to March 2023. Participants: Female adolescents (aged 12–19 years) with PCOS or PCOS-like features. Intervention: Myoinositol or D-chiro-inositol with or without additional interventions. Comparison: Any other treatment, including lifestyle interventions, hormonal therapy, metformin or no treatment. The main outcome measure were improvement in symptoms, quality of life and adverse effects.
Summary
Eight studies were included: two randomised open-label trials, one quasi-randomised and three non-randomised interventional studies, one case-control study and one cohort study. All studies showed improvements in some biochemical markers, metabolic parameters or clinical symptoms, but these were not reproducible across all studies.
Outlook
The benefit of myoinositol in adolescents with PCOS remains unclear, with limited high-quality evidence. This review highlights the need for robustly conducted research to inform clinical practice.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Derick Yates (Evidence Based Practice Tutor) of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Library and Knowledge Service for his assistance in writing the search strategies and conducting the literature searches.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: Sairally – Review papers, risk of bias assessment, manuscript writing and editing. Dhillon-Smith – risk of bias assessment and manuscript editing. Jethwani – Review papers. Latthe – Conception of idea, project development, manuscript editing. All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
References
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Supplementary Material
This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem-2023-0458).
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- Myoinositol or D-chiro-inositol for PCOS symptoms in adolescents: a narrative review
- Mini Review
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of central precocious puberty; a narrative review
- Original Articles
- Evaluation of the role of FTO (rs9939609) and MC4R (rs17782313) gene polymorphisms in type 1 diabetes and their relation to obesity
- Lack of association between month of birth and risk of developing type 1 diabetes in Brazil: a 40-year analysis
- Review on the screening of urine glucose for early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus in school children and adolescents with obesity in Hong Kong
- Effect of daily zinc supplementation for 12 weeks on serum thyroid auto-antibody levels in children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroiditis – a randomized controlled trial
- Correlation between serum vitamin D level and uterine volume in girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty
- Diagnostic model based on multiple factors for girls with central precocious puberty
- Validity and reliability of parent assessments of pubertal maturation among adolescent girls in Isfahan, Iran
- Newborn screening for primary carnitine deficiency using a second-tier genetic test
- Case Reports
- From neglect to peril: diabetic ketoacidosis unleashing colonic necrosis and perforation in an adolescent girl with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Unusual onset of Graves’ disease associated with thymic hyperplasia in a 5-year-old girl with congenital bilateral clinical anophthalmia: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges
- Thyroid hormone resistance and large goiter mimicking infiltrative carcinoma in a pediatric patient
- Hereditary hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia caused by a novel mutation in TRPM6 gene
- Letter to the Editor
- Congenital hyperinsulinism patient with ABCC8 and KCNJ11 double heterozygous variants: a case report with 6 years follow-up
