Awareness and Performance of Iranian General Practitioners in Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome is very common among Iranian women. Patients with this syndrome are more likely to see general practitioners than gynecologists. This study aimed to investigate the level of knowledge and clinical management of general practitioners regarding the diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome.

This cross-sectional study was performed using the convenience sampling method among 198 general practitioners, attending one of the annual general practitioner conferences. The questionnaire (16 questions) was designed as a key feature test for a hypothetical patient with polycystic ovary syndrome. After the validity and reliability tests, it was distributed among the conference attendants.

The response rate of the participants was 79.2% in the study. Only one-third of the participants showed appropriate diagnostic performance, and only one-fourth showed good performance in requesting appropriate diagnostic tests. Also, only one-third of the practitioners provided accurate information for the patients about lifestyle changes and weight loss as the best treatment method.

The results of this study showed that general practitioners dealing with polycystic ovary syndrome patients do not have the appropriate clinical knowledge and performance. Since the prevalence of this syndrome among Iranian women is relatively high, retraining through training packages or retraining courses seems necessary for general practitioners.