Prevalence of functional disorders of androgen excess in unselected premenopausal women: a study in blood donors
February 2012
in “Human Reproduction”
TLDR Many young women who donate blood have hormonal disorders like excess male hormones and PCOS.
In the 2012 study of 592 premenopausal women who were blood donors, researchers found a significant prevalence of functional disorders of androgen excess, including hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Clinical signs of hyperandrogenism, such as hirsutism and acne, were present in 12.2% of participants, while alopecia was less common at 1.7%. The study revealed that 5.4% of the women had PCOS, 5.4% had idiopathic hirsutism, and 3.9% had idiopathic hyperandrogenism. Women with these conditions were generally younger and had higher hirsutism scores and serum androgen levels. The study suggested that isolated acne might be a normal variant, as affected women had similar health indicators to healthy women. The researchers proposed raising the cutoff value for hirsutism scores from 8 to 10 and emphasized the need for further research into the pathophysiology and health consequences of these conditions.
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