Association between biochemical hyperandrogenism parameters and modified Ferriman-Gallwey score in patients with hirsutism in Basrah (Southern Iraq)

Introduction
Hyperandrogenemia is the most frequent endocrine disorder in women causing a variety of adverse metabolic disturbances. Establishing the diagnosis of androgen overproduction has significant implications for the follow-up and treatment of patients. Aim: To investigate the severity of hirsutism and its correlation with serum androgen in women with hirsutism from Basrah (Southern Iraq).

Material and methods
This was a cross-sectional study of 300 hirsute women, mean age: 26.6 ±7.1 years with a modified Ferriman and Gallwey (mFG) score of 8 or higher. Assessment of hirsutism severity was performed and hormonal markers including total testosterone (TT), calculated free testosterone (FT) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), were measured.

Results
There was a significant correlation between the severity of hirsutism using mFG score and FT, TT levels (p < 0.001 and p < 0.047, respectively), while no association was seen between mFG score and DHEA-S.

Conclusions
Our data suggest that FT and, to a less extent, TT were important biochemical hyperandrogenism markers that correlate with severity of hirsutism. DHEA-S was not found to be beneficial.