Prevalence of hyperandrogenemia in the polycystic ovary syndrome diagnosed by the National Institutes of Health 1990 criteria
April 2010
in “Fertility and Sterility”
TLDR Most women with PCOS have high levels of male hormones, and free testosterone is the best marker for this.
The study investigated the prevalence of hyperandrogenemia in 720 patients with PCOS, finding that 75.3% of them had elevated androgen levels. Free testosterone (T) was the most commonly elevated androgen, with 57.6% of patients above the normal range, followed by total T and DHEAS at 33.0% and 32.7%, respectively. The study concluded that free T is the most predictive marker for hyperandrogenemia in PCOS, suggesting it as the preferred single test for this condition.
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