An estimated 5 to 6 million women in the United States are living with the hormonal disorder formerly known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS, according to the Endocrine Society.

Now, the condition has officially been renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, or PMOS. This is a change experts say could help more women get diagnosed earlier and receive proper treatment.

“PCOS focused heavily on women with ovarian cysts. We know many women with the condition actually do not have ovarian cysts. So it was a misnomer and misleading to begin with,” says Dr. Neelum Anwaar, endocrinologist at Soundview Medical Associates, Hartford HealthCare, in Wilton, Connecticut.

For many women, irregular menstrual cycles, difficulty losing weight, excess facial hair, infertility, and more are just some of the symptoms listed by the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Anwaar says the old name often led to women being misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, but PMOS, along with already updated guidelines, is a game-changer in women’s health.

“It is going to create more awareness in women, and it’s going to help women get diagnosed early and also encourage providers to look into the metabolic and hormonal nature of the ovaries and the fertility part of the disease,” says Dr. Anwaar.

Specialists say the updated name better reflects the full scope of the disorder and may lead to more comprehensive care focused on long-term health outcomes.

“Treatment from an endocrinology or specialist perspective is going to be focused on the underlying hormonal etiology of this condition… the metabolic nature of the disease. That is going to prevent long-term complications associated with this condition,” Dr. Anwaar says.