It is true that polycystic ovarian patients have got high egg reserve which means the number of eggs available in their ovaries naturally is quite high which is reassuring but it does not mean that they could have a false sense of security, that they can postpone their pregnancy to later time just because they have got a very high result. We need to understand that egg numbers or egg reserve is one thing but the quality of eggs is also very important in the whole equation of achieving a healthy baby and we know that quality of eggs start to go down after age 35, 36 which is true for non-PCO patients as well. So, the recommendation for them would be to try for pregnancy sooner rather than later like anybody else. Just because they have got a high egg reserve does not mean that all is well. Obviously they need to be assessed from every other aspect like lifestyle changes, weight, male factor, tubal factor, everything else.
It is true that if they have to undergo assisted conception because of their high reserve, the number of eggs we get is more but that’s it. It is not obviously formulating to or leads to good quality eggs as well which is determined mainly by the age. So the same recommendation is for non-PCO patients.
Actually traditionally what we were taught in our training is that for women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, the quality of their eggs is not as good as women who don’t have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. However, here in my practice, I have seen no difference between women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in terms of quality of their embryos and in terms of their chances of getting pregnant when we do an embryo transfer, I haven’t been seen and I don’t see that difference and in fact, with women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, I say that there’s a silver lining in that we collect more eggs from them compared to women with normal ovarian reserves. I don’t see any difference in the quality of their eggs or the quality of the embryo as long as their partners have a good sperm count. I only see an advantage in that we are able to collect more eggs from women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and polycystic ovaries in general.
A very good question because with the age women with PCOS have more chances to have some other problem with their health, for example, high blood pressure, cardiological problem, high lipids and triglycerides level, some abnormalities of coagulation so, it is better to do that earlier. From the other hand, a woman with PCOS has very good ovarian reserve and theoretically, they will have menopause much later than average woman so, from this point of view, they has more chance to conceive at 40 years old than how to say a woman with normal ovary because with the age, woman with PCOS activity of ovary decrease and sometime in the young age girls has menstrual irregularity, problem with conceive but after 38 or even 40, menstruation may became normal, more regular and sometimes they has chance to conceive later but it is not mean that necessary to wait 40 years old. Better to try to conceive earlier because afterwards they can have much more problems with their health: like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. and it is not very good for pregnancy care. It may give a lot of complications during the pregnancy.
This is a really good question, there is no age that is best to get pregnant with PCOS because PCOS can impact you from a very young age and right up to menopause. However, we do know that for general fertility, woman are most fertile in their 20’s and by the time you reach mid to late thirties your fertility will decline. However with PCOS it does mean that you have a greater ovarian count, however that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will then be able to conceive later on in life as it is often the egg quality that can sometimes be more difficult for women with PCOS.
