Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Pcos Awareness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advocates push to designate September as PCOS Awareness Month to improve diagnosis and maternal health
Summary
Health groups, patients and national advocates asked the committee to report favorably on bills (S.2173 / H.3392) to designate September as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Awareness Month, arguing that earlier diagnosis and public awareness would reduce long‑term health risks.
Health advocates, clinicians and patient advocates urged the Joint Committee to report favorably on legislation (H.3392 / S.2173) designating September as PCOS Awareness Month.
Witnesses described polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as a common hormonal and metabolic disorder that is underdiagnosed and associated with lifelong health risks. Testimony from the advocacy group PCOS Challenge and local clinicians reported that PCOS affects roughly 10 to 15 percent of people with ovaries; advocates estimated several hundred thousand people in Massachusetts may have the condition but many remain undiagnosed. Witnesses said delayed diagnosis (often two to seven years after symptom onset) contributes to preventable complications including prediabetes/diabetes, cardiovascular risk, reproductive difficulties and pregnancy complications.
Testifiers asked the committee to support a yearly awareness month to mobilize public education, improve provider training on PCOS, promote earlier screening (including for adolescents), and raise awareness of maternal‑health risks. Speakers highlighted weekly themes for an awareness month (support and advocacy; fertility and maternal health; lifestyle management; related disorders; adolescent health) and urged the committee to report the bills favorably to move the measure forward this session.
Committee members asked questions about the proposed scope and whether the designation would require new spending; witnesses said the designation would be primarily educational and not require a state appropriation. The committee left the record open for additional written submissions.
