SIMPLER METHOD IN ASSESSMENT OF HIRSUTISM IN PCOS

Introduction : As the modified Ferriman–Gallwey (mFG) score is unsuitable for self-assessment and requires specialist training, a short, self-administered questionnaire to identify hirsutism was constructed and validated for large-scale application, particularly targeting population-based studies. 

Design: A validation study was conducted to assess a new hirsutism questionnaire (NHQ).

Material and Methods: A total of 90 women aged 35-60 years who attended Chalmeda Anand Rao institute of medical sciences, Karimnagar and were diagnosed as PCOS were enrolled . A self-administered instrument containing four questions was designed to evaluate five body areas: upper lip, chin, chest, lower abdomen, and thighs with respect to the distribution of body hair.A score of 0–4 was attributed to each region based on drawings was provided in the instrument. An independent medical examination was conducted and compared the results to the gold standard modified Ferriman–Gallwey (mFG) score to test the reliability of this method.

Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.93 (95% CI: 0.87–0.99). A cut-off score of 5 showed the best balance between sensitivity (85%) and specificity (90%), with 88.9% accuracy. 

Conclusion: The accuracy and internal consistency of this self-administered questionnaire for the identification of hirsutism were good. Therefore, this questionnaire represents a useful tool for self-assessment of hirsutism in population-based studies.