Journal
FERTILITY AND STERILITY
Volume 93, Issue 6, Pages 1938-1941Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.12.138
Keywords
Polycystic ovary syndrome; hyperandrogenemia; total testosterone; free testosterone; dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
Categories
Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [R01-HD29364, K24 HD001346, K24-HD01346-01, R01 HD029364, R01 HD029364-13] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: To determine the prevalence of elevated total and free T, and DHEAS, alone and in combination, in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Cross-sectional analysis. Setting: Tertiary care academic medical center. Patient(s): Seven hundred twenty patients diagnosed with PCOS according to the National Institutes of Health 1990 criteria. Intervention(s): History, physical examination, and blood sampling. Main Outcome Measure(s): Hyperandrogenemia, defined as at least one androgen value above the 95th percentile of 98 healthy control women (i.e., total T >88 ng/dL, free T >0.75 ng/dL, and DHEAS >2,750 ng/mL). Result(s): A total of 716 subjects with PCOS were included. The overall prevalence of hyperandrogenemia in PCOS was 75.3%. Supranormal levels of free T were present in 57.6%, of total T in 33.0%, and of DHEAS in 32.7% of patients with PCOS. When assessing the prevalence of two abnormal values, the prevalence of simultaneously elevated androgens was lowest with total T and DHEAS (1.7%) and highest with total T and free T (20.4%). Altogether, simultaneous elevations in all three markers were found in 8.7% of subjects with PCOS. Conclusion(s): Approximately three-fourths of patients with PCOS diagnosed by the National Institutes of Health 1990 criteria have evidence of hyperandrogenemia: the single most predictive assay was the measurement of free T with similar to 60% of patients demonstrating supranormal levels. (Fertil Steril (R) 2010;93:1938-41. (C)2010 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available