THE PREVALENCE OF HIRSUTISM AND ETHNICAL PECULIARITIES OF HAIR DISTRIBUTION IN GEORGIAN ADOLESCENT POPULATION IN...

Objective - the purpose of the study is evaluation of the Hirsutism prevalence and ethnical peculiarities of the hair distribution in Georgian female adolescents of Tbilisi, Georgia. 2592 randomly selected female adolescents of Tbilisi were included in the study. They completed standard questionnaires consisted of questions about the existence of hirsutism and its locations. For clinical assessment 2 groups were selected from them: group 1 - 117 adolescents with hirsutism and 178 without it. For clinical evaluation of hirsutism modified Ferriman-Gallwey score was used. Based on the self-estimation the hirsutism prevalence was 26.62% (690 out of 2592), while clinically established prevalence of hirsutism was 20.61%. The most prevalent areas of hair distribution by self-estimation were the face and the abdomen. Clinical assessment of patients with hirsutism showed that mean value of Ferriman-Gallwey Score was 12.87±5.94. Hair distribution by clinical assessment was most significantly observed in the lower abdomen (78.33%), upper lip (76.67%) and chest (68.33%). This is the first study of hirsutism prevalence in ethnically Georgian adolescent female population. The study has shown that the value of prevalence by self-estimation exceeds analogous value established clinically, and the sites with hair excess are lower abdomen, upper lip and the chest.