PCOS impacts women’s focus, attention, decreasing speed of response over 50%: IIT-B study
India’s ‘most prevailing female endocrine disorder’ Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) has mental effects apart from a physical one, revealed the researchers at Indian Institute of Bombay (IIT-B). The study has found a dramatic impact on women’s focussed as well as divided attention.“Women with PCOS showed over a 50% slower response and made about 10% more errors than the healthy ones in the focused attention test. Similarly, PCOS women performed about 20% slowly, with 3% extra errors in the divided attention task,” as per the recent study ‘The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome on attention: an empirical investigation’ led by Maitreyi Redkar and Prof Azizuddin Khan.According to India’s Ministry of Science and Technology,, irregular periods, hirsutism, and weight gain are the common symptoms of PCOS. It is the most prevailing female endocrine disorder with the nationwide rate of 20-25%.The IIT-Bstudy says that while we know that women suffer from these physical conditions, we know less about their mental effects. An earlier research underlines that Indian women with PCOS show an increased level of “anxiety and depression”.“The cognitive experiments are specifically designed to capture the subtle millisecond-level differences in how individuals respond to critical stimuli. These minute delays reveal significant impairments in attention, which may impact our real-life functioning. In the specific context of focused attention, it is not just about concentrating on the task at hand to respond at the right time, but also inhibiting irrelevant distractors,” said Prof Khan.As per the research, among the two types of attention, PCOS women performed poorer in focused attention. The hormonal imbalance associated with PCOS could lead to decreased alertness and longer reaction times. Along with elevated androgen levels, the participants with PCOS had insulin resistance that is linked to attention. Insulin resistance causes poor glucose metabolism and affects brain cell (neuron) activity, leading to poor performance in focused attention tasks.Mental fatigue linked to PCOS, such as anxiety and frustration, makes divided attention tasks more challenging, noted the study. The study found that the decreased accuracy in divided attention tasks may influence working memory, which hinders holding the information temporarily. This makes daily activities such as keeping track of directions while driving or remembering a phone number to dial more challenging.What to do about PCOS?“Increasing physical activity levels, maintaining a nutritious diet, and reducing weight are beneficial not just for PCOS symptoms but also for cognitive health. Even improving sleep hygiene contributes significantly to improving attentional accuracy and reaction time,” suggests Prof Khan.He further added that PCOS is a heterogeneous condition, which means that its symptoms and severity vary depending on the hormonal profile, metabolic health, mental health and socio-environmental conditions of the individual. Despite the variability in PCOS symptoms and their severity, the impairments in the core cognitive abilities of attention and processing speed seem to be prevalent across women.
India’s ‘most prevailing female endocrine disorder’ Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) has mental effects apart from a physical one, revealed the researchers at Indian Institute of Bombay (IIT-B). The study has found a dramatic impact on women’s focussed as well as divided attention.
“Women with PCOS showed over a 50% slower response and made about 10% more errors than the healthy ones in the focused attention test. Similarly, PCOS women performed about 20% slowly, with 3% extra errors in the divided attention task,” as per the recent study ‘The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome on attention: an empirical investigation’ led by Maitreyi Redkar and Prof Azizuddin Khan.
According to India’s Ministry of Science and Technology,, irregular periods, hirsutism, and weight gain are the common symptoms of PCOS. It is the most prevailing female endocrine disorder with the nationwide rate of 20-25%.
The IIT-Bstudy says that while we know that women suffer from these physical conditions, we know less about their mental effects. An earlier research underlines that Indian women with PCOS show an increased level of “anxiety and depression”.
“The cognitive experiments are specifically designed to capture the subtle millisecond-level differences in how individuals respond to critical stimuli. These minute delays reveal significant impairments in attention, which may impact our real-life functioning. In the specific context of focused attention, it is not just about concentrating on the task at hand to respond at the right time, but also inhibiting irrelevant distractors,” said Prof Khan.
As per the research, among the two types of attention, PCOS women performed poorer in focused attention. The hormonal imbalance associated with PCOS could lead to decreased alertness and longer reaction times. Along with elevated androgen levels, the participants with PCOS had insulin resistance that is linked to attention. Insulin resistance causes poor glucose metabolism and affects brain cell (neuron) activity, leading to poor performance in focused attention tasks.
Mental fatigue linked to PCOS, such as anxiety and frustration, makes divided attention tasks more challenging, noted the study.
The study found that the decreased accuracy in divided attention tasks may influence working memory, which hinders holding the information temporarily. This makes daily activities such as keeping track of directions while driving or remembering a phone number to dial more challenging.
What to do about PCOS?
“Increasing physical activity levels, maintaining a nutritious diet, and reducing weight are beneficial not just for PCOS symptoms but also for cognitive health. Even improving sleep hygiene contributes significantly to improving attentional accuracy and reaction time,” suggests Prof Khan.
He further added that PCOS is a heterogeneous condition, which means that its symptoms and severity vary depending on the hormonal profile, metabolic health, mental health and socio-environmental conditions of the individual. Despite the variability in PCOS symptoms and their severity, the impairments in the core cognitive abilities of attention and processing speed seem to be prevalent across women.
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