Is Metformin the Answer for Distressed Females with Menstrual Irregularities?

Abstract

This literature review is aimed to determine if metformin alone improves menstrual irregularities in females with the polycystic ovarian syndrome. The current literature review involves females with polycystic ovarian syndrome experiencing menstrual irregularity. The data was collected in PubMed and inclusion criteria included articles published in the past 10 years, articles involving only humans, articles written in the English language and considering women age 19 or more. The number of discovered articles was 1550 after the first search and only 25 articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected after quality assessment. The selected 25 articles that met the inclusion criteria after a review showed evidence for regulating menstrual cycles with metformin therapy alone among females with the polycystic ovarian syndrome. When metformin was used in addition to other pharmacologic agents, there was a more significant restoration of menstrual cycles. Monotherapy with metformin is found to be highly effective in treating menstrual irregularities experienced among patients with the polycystic ovarian syndrome. Greater improvement was noted with the addition of another agent to metformin.