title: The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome on the health-related quality of life: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been shown to cause a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, the relative degree of impairment in each domain differed among samples, and it was not clear which aspect of disease-specific HRQOL (modified polycystic ovary syndrome health-related quality of life questionnaire) was most negatively affected.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To systematically review the effects of PCOS on specific domains of HRQOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature search using search engine of database (PubMed, PsychInfo, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and Scopus) between 1998 to December 2013 yields 6 relevant publications. Pairs of raters used structural tools to analyze these articles, through critical appraisal and data extraction. The scores of each domain of polycystic ovarian syndrome questionnaire (PCOSQ) or modified version (MPCOSQ) of 1140 women with PCOS were used in meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The combine mean of emotional (4.40; 95% CI 3.77-5.04), infertility (4.13; 95% CI 3.81-4.45) and weight (3.88; 95% CI 2.33-5.42) dimensions were better, but menstruation (3.84; 95% CI 3.63-4.04) and hirsutism (3.81; 95% CI 3.26-4.35) domains were lower than the mean score of PCOSQ/MPCOSQ in related dimension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The meta-analysis showed that the most affected domains in specific HRQOL were hirsutism and menstruation. Based on these findings, we recommend healthcare providers to be made aware that HRQOL impairment of PCOS is mainly caused by their hirsutism and menstruation, which requires appropriate management.
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandarabbas, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bazarganipour
authors.affiliation: Hormozgan Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandarabbas, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Abdolvahab
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Taghavi
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Group, Health Metrics Research Center, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montazeri
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fazlollah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaman
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Related Social and Behavioral Sciences Research, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khosravi
keywords: Meta-analysis; Polycystic ovary syndrome; Quality of life; Review