BACKGROUND Surprisingly, the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in otherwise unselected overweight or obese women is unknown, despite obesity being frequent in patients with PCOS. We conducted the present study to obtain an unbiased estimate of the prevalence of PCOS in unselected overweight and obese premenopausal women from Spain. METHODS All premenopausal women reporting to the...

Idiopathic hirsutism may result from an increase in the androgen receptor (AR)-mediated sensitivity of the hair follicle. The AR gene is located on the X-chromosome and contains a highly polymorphic trinucleotide repeat (CAGn) in its first exon, whose length and methylation pattern affect both AR expression and function. We analyzed these CAG repeats in the genomic DNA from 16 nonhyperandrogeni...

background: polycystic ovarian syndrome (pcos) has been shown to cause a reduction in health-related quality of life (hrqol). objective:  this study examines the extent of different clinical symptoms in pcos patients on hrqol. materials and methods:  a cross-sectional study was undertaken to ascertain the factors related to hrqol in 200 pcos patients in kashan, iran. main outcome measures were ...

Hirsutism by definition describes the quality of body hair, implying coarseness, but common usage has extended the meaning to denote an excess of hair-locally or generalised. Body hair is of two types: fine, non-pigmented vellus hair-for example, facial "down"-and coarser pigmented terminal hair as in the scalp and axillas. The visual impression of hairiness is produced by the coarser type. Hir...

There is wide variation in the normal pattern of hair growth. Hypertrichosis, which can be defined as excessive growth of hair compared with that in other subjects of the same age, sex, and race, must be distinguished from hirsutism, a term restricted to an androgen dependent hair pattern that is characterised by excessive hair growth on the upper lip, chin, chest, linea alba, thighs, and axill...

BACKGROUND Hirsutism is the presence of excess body or facial terminal (coarse) hair growth in females in a male-like pattern, affects 5-15% of women, and is an important sign of underlying androgen excess. Different methods are available for the assessment of hair growth in women. METHODS We conducted a literature search and analyzed the published studies that reported methods for the assess...