Defining Hyperandrogenism in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Challenging Perspective

This study was designed to assess the steroid profiling by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in PCOS women with different phenotypes.

Cross-sectional study.

University hospital of Bologna, Italy.

A total of 156 PCOS women and 141 controls comparable for age were investigated. All underwent a steroid profiling by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Metabolic parameters were also investigated and hirsutism was measured by the modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mF-G) score.

Three distinct phenotypes were initially defined according to the combination of hirsutism (mF-G ≥ 8) and/or high testosterone (T) (HA), oligo-amenorrhea (OA), and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOm); OA + PCOm (n = 43), HA + OA (n = 65), and HA + OA + PCOm (n = 45). T, androstenedione (A), and free androgen index (FAI) levels progressively increased in the 3 PCOS phenotypes with respect to the controls, with the highest values in the HA + OA + PCOm phenotype. The various combinations of hirsutism, high T, high A, and high FAI made it possible to categorize the 3 original phenotypes into 8 hyperandrogenic subgroups, characterized by divergent additional steroid profile and metabolic pattern. A total of 90% of patients with PCOS thus proved hyperandrogenic. Interestingly, half the PCOS women originally classified as having the OA-PCOm phenotype were categorized in a hyperandrogenic subgroup. No significant correlation was found between T, A, and the mF-G score. In contrast, significant correlation was found between A and both T and FAI.

This study provides evidence that, by including a steroid profile in the definition of hyperandrogenemia, the majority of women with PCOS are hyperandrogenic, although a clinical and biochemical heterogeneity exists. In addition, these data demonstrate that hirsutism and high androgen levels cannot be used indifferently to define hyperandrogenism.