PMOS and pitfalls of personalized health

Key Points:

• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) to better reflect its hormonal and metabolic nature, affecting about 170 million women worldwide and linked to various health issues beyond ovarian cysts.
• PMOS manifests differently among individuals, with symptoms ranging from insulin resistance to cystic acne and weight gain, making personalized treatment challenging; common therapies like metformin work variably across patients.
• Health tech companies are increasingly promoting "personalized health" through data-driven insights from wearables and AI, aiming to tailor recommendations based on individual metrics rather than generalized advice.
• However, current health technologies often fail to accommodate complex conditions like PMOS, lacking features that account for unique metabolic rates, hormonal treatments, or varied symptom presentations, limiting their effectiveness for many users.
• While optimistic about future advancements, the author emphasizes that personalized health tech currently requires significant user effort, expert consultation, and trial-and-error, cautioning against expecting seamless, fully automated solutions in the near term.