Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS): An Emerging Public Health Concern at the Intersection of Life-Course Epidemiology, Social Inequalities, and Metabolic, Environmental, and Reproductive Health

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, now reclassified as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) (formerly known as PCOS), has traditionally been viewed primarily as a reproductive disorder. In reality, it is a complex, lifelong endocrine condition that unfolds across distinct life stages — from adolescent onset through the reproductive years and into menopause — with outcomes that may differ across populations because of biological, environmental, and social determinants. It affects over 10% of women and people of reproductive age globally and is thought to arise through complex interactions among genetic, biological, environmental, and social factors.

PMOS is increasingly recognized as a public health concern because of its long-term metabolic, reproductive, and psychosocial consequences, and has been associated with increased risk of metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, mental health conditions, and adverse reproductive outcomes. Environmental exposures, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals, have also been investigated as potential contributors, although further epidemiological and mechanistic evidence is needed to clarify these relationships.

Many individuals experience delays in PMOS diagnosis and management, which may contribute to unmet reproductive, metabolic, and mental health needs, higher long-term healthcare costs, and greater risk of chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. These burdens may disproportionately affect socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, yet the pathways linking social conditions to biological risk remain insufficiently characterized.

This Research Topic aims to promote an integrated understanding of PMOS across biological, environmental, clinical, and social domains, and to clarify how these factors interact and accumulate across the life course to shape onset, progression, and outcomes — for example, how early-life exposures influence later disease risk, and how social and structural determinants become embedded in biological pathways. Addressing these questions requires longitudinal epidemiological studies capable of tracking exposures and outcomes over time, alongside experimental and translational research identifying the underlying biological mechanisms.

We aim to gather evidence bridging laboratory science and community-level intervention, supporting multidisciplinary approaches to prevention, early diagnosis, and equitable, evidence-based management across the life course.

We welcome epidemiological, clinical, mechanistic, and translational studies that improve understanding of how biological mechanisms interact with environmental and social determinants across the life course. We particularly encourage longitudinal epidemiological studies — prospective and birth cohorts, life-course epidemiology, multilevel modelling, mediation and trajectory analyses, and causal inference approaches — alongside experimental and translational studies elucidating molecular, endocrine, metabolic, inflammatory, and epigenetic mechanisms relevant to the epidemiological patterns and health inequalities observed in PMOS.

Specific themes include: (1) life-course trajectories and developmental programming; (2) environmental exposures and endocrine-disrupting chemicals; (3) metabolic and cardiometabolic health; (4) bridging epidemiology and mechanistic science; and (5) social determinants, health inequalities, and healthcare access.

We invite Original Research, Systematic Review, Mini Review, and Perspective articles.