The name of a chronically-misdiagnosed disorder which impacts an estimated 500,000 Australian women will be officially changed after almost a century.

In a landmark win for reproductive health advocates, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) will instead be globally recognised as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS).

Melbourne woman Lorna Berry was belatedly diagnosed with what is now known as PMOS at age 32, almost two decades after she first developed symptoms as an teen.

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She was part of the Australian contingent that spent 14 years calling for the name change.

"It is a long time between 13 and 32, but nobody questioned it. There were no serious questions, and I wasn't diagnosed until after I had my first child," Berry told Nine.com.au.

"This isn't for me, but my daughters and their daughters, and the women that haven't even been born yet.

"With the introduction of the word metabolic, it sort of eliminates the confusion around the origin of it and the management."

Since PCOS was first coined as a medical term in 1935, diagnosis and treatment has been centred around the ovaries and cysts.

But nearly 100 years of medical progress has found the hormonal or endocrine disorder can severely affect multiple parts of the body, not just the ovaries.

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