Normative Data for Modified Ferriman-Gallwey Score and the Prevalence of Hirsutism in Young South Indians

Introduction: The modified Ferriman-Gallwey score (mFGS) cut-offs to define hirsutism vary with ethnicity, whereas no such cut-offs are established for Indian women. Well-conducted studies that report the prevalence of hirsutism in Indian women are limited. Hence, this study was conducted to report the prevalence of hirsutism and population-specific cut-offs for mFGS in South-Indian women.

Methods: In this cross-sectional, community-based study, adult women in reproductive age (18-40 years) were screened for hirsutism by two trained medical students. Hirsutism was assessed using the mFGS and case record file.

Results: A total of 453 women were included in the study [age: 22.15 ± 5.27 years; body mass index (BMI): 22.5 ± 3.58 kg/m2]. The median (IQR) mFGS was 1(0-3); only eight participants (1.8%) had mFGS ≥8, and all these eight women had at least another PCOS-related feature (irregular menstrual cycles and/or topical therapy-resistant acne). The median (IQR) mFGS in the PCOS phenotype group (n = 52), non-PCOS-phenotype group (n = 401), non-obese group (<25 kg/m2), non-PCOS-phenotype group (n = 322), obese group (≥ 25 kg/m2), non-PCOS-phenotype group (n = 79), overweight group (BMI: 23-25 kg/m2), non-PCOS-phenotype group (n = 74), normal BMI group (<23 kg/m2), and non-PCOS-phenotype group (n = 248) were 4 (1-6), 1 (0-2), 1 (0-2), 2 (1-3), 1 (0-2), and 1 (0-2), respectively. The 97.5^th centile mFGS in all groups except the PCOS phenotype group and the obese and non-PCOS phenotype groups was 5.

Conclusion: We propose a new mFGS cut-off of 5 in the South-Indian population for evaluation of hirsutism, and the prevalence rates of hirsutism in the South-Indian population were 1.8% and 9.9% using mFGS of ≥8 and ≥5 to define hirsutism, respectively.