Women With Clinically Significant Hirsutism Always Have Detectable Endocrinological Abnormalities

The 1997 study investigated 120 Saudi women with clinically significant hirsutism and found that all 78 evaluable patients had detectable hormonal abnormalities. The most common findings were elevated androgen levels (85.9%), polycystic ovaries (59%), hyperprolactinemia (34.6%), and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (14.1%). The study concluded that the term 'idiopathic hirsutism' may be misapplied, as most women with hirsutism have underlying hormonal disturbances, particularly polycystic ovary syndrome. The authors recommended a two-step laboratory work-up to identify the cause of hirsutism in affected women.