Jordanian women with PCOS show heavier anxiety, depression and skin burden

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) treated at a tertiary hospital in Jordan reported substantially higher levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, acne and hirsutism than women of reproductive age without the condition, according to a cross-sectional study published in BMC Women’s Health.

The study, described as a descriptive, single-center cross-sectional investigation, enrolled 276 women with PCOS and 80 women of reproductive age without PCOS as a control group. All participants completed a set of standardized instruments: the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale for anxiety symptoms, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms, the Ferriman–Gallwey score for hirsutism, and the Global Acne Grading System (GAGS) for acne.

The results showed marked differences between the two groups. Women with PCOS reported a mean anxiety symptom score of 10.09 on the GAD-7, compared with 6.16 among controls, a difference the authors report as statistically significant (p = 0.0001). Depressive symptom scores on the PHQ-9 averaged 12.07 in the PCOS group versus 8.21 in the control group (p = 0.001).

Cutaneous findings followed the same pattern. Self-reported acne scores, measured with the Global Acne Grading System, averaged 8.16 among women with PCOS compared with 3.55 among controls (p = 0.0001). Hirsutism scores on the Ferriman–Gallwey scale averaged 7.64 in the PCOS group versus 3.59 in the control group (p = 0.0001).

Because factors such as age, body mass index and income could influence both PCOS status and the measured outcomes, the researchers carried out separate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), adjusting for age, BMI and income individually. After each of these adjustments, PCOS status remained a significant predictor of all the outcomes examined, with all adjusted comparisons reported at p < 0.001.

The study also examined how the psychological and skin measures related to one another within the sample. Depressive symptom scores showed significant positive correlations with self-reported acne scores (p = 0.003), self-reported hirsutism scores (p < 0.001), and anxiety symptom scores (p < 0.001). In other words, women who reported more severe skin manifestations also tended to report more depressive symptoms, and depression and anxiety scores moved together.

The authors conclude that women with PCOS recruited from a single tertiary hospital in Jordan experienced a considerable psychological and dermatological burden. They argue that the association between self-reported cutaneous manifestations and psychological distress underscores the necessity of integrating routine dermatological and mental health assessment into standard PCOS management, alongside culturally tailored awareness campaigns.

PCOS is described in the paper as a prevalent endocrine disorder with significant dermatological and psychological consequences. While these consequences are widely studied globally, the authors note that data regarding women in Jordan remain scarce, which motivated the present investigation.

Several limitations of scope should be kept in mind when interpreting the findings. The study was conducted at a single tertiary center, so the participants may not represent all Jordanian women with PCOS. As a cross-sectional design, it captures a snapshot in time and cannot establish causal relationships between PCOS, its cutaneous manifestations and psychological distress. In addition, the cutaneous outcomes analyzed in the correlation analyses were self-reported scores, and the article is being shared as an early, peer-reviewed accepted version that is subject to further edits before the final Version of Record.

Within those limits, the study provides quantified evidence from Jordan that women with PCOS carry a dual burden: higher reported levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and more severe reported acne and hirsutism, with the skin and psychological measures statistically linked. The authors present these results as support for care models that address both the dermatological and mental health dimensions of PCOS in this population.

Subject of Research: Psychological and dermatological burden of polycystic ovary syndrome among Jordanian women

Article Title: Psychological and cutaneous burden of PCOS in Jordanian women: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Qatawneh, A., Abuznad, N., Alassaf, F., Al-Shalabi, T., Hussein, D., Altaher, K., Al Qattan, D., & Khatatbeh, R. (2026). Psychological and cutaneous burden of PCOS in Jordanian women: a cross-sectional study. BMC Women's Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-026-04870-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12905-026-04870-9

Keywords: PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome, Jordan, anxiety, depression, acne, hirsutism, cross-sectional study, GAD-7, PHQ-9, Ferriman-Gallwey score, women's health