The grade of hirsutism correlated to serum androgen levels and hormonal indices

Abstract

The degree of hair growth of 64 hirsute women was clinically graded. The patients were divided into two groups with respect to the ratio between the serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). The two groups did not differ in terms of the grade of hirsutism, serum testosterone (T), calculated free testosterone (FTc), androstenedione (A), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), estradiol, or cortisol levels. In patients with a LH/FSH ratio of 3.0 or less (n = 49), FTc and A correlated well (rho 0.49, p less than 0.001) to the clinically graded hormonal hirsutism score, while SHBG showed an inverse correlation to it. By contrast, no correlations were found in patients with a serum LH/FSH ratio exceeding 3.0 (n = 15). Various indices for hyperandrogenism were calculated. In patients with lower LH/FSH ratio, T/SHBG, T/SHBG + A/100 and T/SHBG + A/100 + DHEAS/100 showed the best correlation with the clinically scored hair growth. These results show that correlations between hirsutism and hyperandrogenism can be demonstrated.