Ee, C.Pirotta, S.Mousa, A.Moran, L.Lim, S.2022-01-102022-01-102021BMC Endocrine Disorders, 2021; 21(1):234-1-234-121472-68231472-6823https://hdl.handle.net/2440/134013Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder affecting up to 13 % of women. Lifestyle interventions are first-line treatments, however attrition in women with PCOS is high. This review summarises current evidence on barriers to lifestyle management in PCOS and suggested strategies for overcoming these challenges, mapped to the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour model. Physical capability for lifestyle changes may be impacted by altered gut hormone regulation and energy expenditure in PCOS. This may contribute to difficulties with weight management. The higher prevalence of eating disorders, disordered eating, fatigue and sleep disturbances are further barriers. Psychological capability may be reduced due psychological symptoms and lack of critical health literacy. Women with PCOS face similar challenges in terms of Opportunity to make lifestyle changes as other women of reproductive age. However, these are complicated by features more common in PCOS including body dissatisfaction. Motivation to adopt healthy lifestyles may be impacted by suboptimal risk perception and intrinsic motivation. To address these barriers, screening for and management of eating disorders, disordered eating, depression, and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea should be undertaken as per international evidence-based guidelines. A weight-neutral approach may be appropriate with disordered eating. Building capability among health professionals to better partner with women with PCOS on their management is essential in addressing health literacy gaps. Behavioural strategies that target risk perception and build intrinsic motivation should be utilised. More research is required to understand optimal self-management strategies, risk perception, energy homeostasis and overcoming attrition in women with PCOS.en© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Polycystic ovary syndromeLifestyleBehaviour changeObesityWeightHealth literacyRisk perceptionDepressionSelf-managementFatigueCOM-BJournal article10.1186/s12902-021-00890-82022-01-10595361Moran, L. [0000-0001-5772-6484]