Degree of facial and body terminal hair growth in unselected black
and white women: toward a populational definition of hirsutism.
DeUgarte CM ,Woods KS, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8635 West Third Street, Suite 160 W, Los Angeles,
CA 90048, USA.
Hirsutism (i.e. Facial and body terminal hair growth in a male-like pattern
in women) is the principal clinical sign of hyperandrogenism, although its
definition remains unclear. The purposes of the present study were to define 1) the degree of facial and
body terminal hair, as assessed by the modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mFG) score, in
unselected women from the general population; 2) the effect of race (Black and
White) on the same; and 3) the normative cutoff values. We conducted a prospective observational study at a tertiary academic
medical center. PATIENTS/ Participants included 633 unselected White (n = 283) and Black (n = 350)
women presenting for a preemployment physical exam.
Interventions included history and physical examination.
Terminal body hair growth was assessed using the mFG scoring system; nine
body areas were scored from 0-4 for terminal hair growth distribution. The mFG scores were not normally distributed; although cluster analysis
failed to identify a natural cutoff value or clustering of the population,
principal component and univariate analyses denoted two nearly distinct clusters
that occurred above and below an mFG value of 2, with the bulk of the scores
below. Overall, an mFG score of at least 3 was observed in 22.1% of all subjects
(i.e. the upper quartile); of these subjects, 69.3% complained of being hirsute,
compared with 15.8% of women with an mFG score below this value, and similar to
the proportion of women with an mFG score of at least 8 who considered
themselves to be hirsute (70.0%). Overall, there were no significant differences
between Black and White women. Our data indicate that the prevalence and degree of facial and body terminal
hair growth, as assessed by the mFG score, is similar in Black and White women
and that an mFG of at least 3 signals the population of women whose hair growth
falls out of the norm.
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