Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) following a global consensus study published today in The Lancet and presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. The new name recognizes that the condition affecting more than 170 million people worldwide is not primarily a gynecological disorder, but a complex, multisystem condition involving endocrine, metabolic, reproductive, dermatological, and psychological health.
The change is meant to address a long-standing problem: Despite its name, many patients with PCOS do not have ovarian cysts. The old name led patients and clinicians alike to focus on the cystic presentation, meaning patients without cysts could be dismissed even as they experienced the metabolic and fertility issues associated with the condition. The WHO estimates that 70% of people with PCOS are undiagnosed.
The new name – PMOS – is designed to reflect the condition’s hormonal (polyendocrine) complexity, acknowledge its metabolic and cardiometabolic effects, and continue to recognize the role of ovaries without overemphasizing reproductive aspects.
The process behind the change was extensive. The debate started in 2015, when experts brought together in Sicily to discuss renaming agreed the name was bad but couldn’t agree on a replacement. Over the following decade, the PCOS community undertook what has been described as the most robust disease-renaming process in history – surveys administered in 2017, 2023, and 2025 gathered input from approximately 22,000 stakeholders globally, including clinicians, researchers, patients, and advocacy organizations. Names were tested in workshops with participants from around the world. PMOS was chosen in a near-unanimous vote earlier this year: 87 out of 90 voters supported it immediately.
Not everyone is on board though. Two notable dissenting voices raised concerns that the name changed the acronym (requiring significant rebranding effort for organizations and businesses built around “PCOS”) without going far enough – specifically, that retaining “ovarian” doesn’t account for emerging research suggesting a possible male form of the syndrome. Advocates on the other side argued that waiting for male-inclusive research would have delayed a decision that was already a decade overdue and risked diluting resources dedicated to women.
The expectation is that full dissemination of the new name will take approximately three years, with updates to clinical guidelines, medical education, and international disease classification systems.
For the companies building diagnostics, treatments, and digital health tools for this population, the reclassification validates what many have already been building toward: A whole-body approach to a condition that was never just about ovaries.
