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Examining the chin and upper and lower abdomen is a reliable,minimally invasive way to screen for excessive hair growth inwomen, a key indicator of too much male hormone, researchersreport. "We wanted to find a way to identify this problem in women that wasas non-intrusive and accurate as possible," said Dr. Ricardo Azziz,reproductive endocrinologist and President of Georgia HealthSciences University. "We believe this approach is approximately 80 percent accurate andwill be less traumatic for women in many situations than the fullbody assessments currently used," said Azziz, corresponding authorof the study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. In addition to cosmetic concerns, women with excessive hair growth,or hirsutism , are often overweight with menstrual dysfunction and diminishedfertility related to problems with ovulation. Symptoms can begin inchildhood. Hirsutism also is highly correlated with polycysticovary syndrome, or PCOS, a major cause of infertility as well as a significant risk factor for diabetes and heart disease . PCOS is a subcategory of androgen excess or excess male hormone,the most common hormone disorder, which affects about 10 percent ofwomen. "If you do the math, at least half the women with excess hairgrowth will be at increased risk for insulin resistance, metabolicdysfunction, diabetes and heart disease. That is why this is suchan important marker," Azziz said. He calls hirsutism the single most defining feature of androgenexcess disorder, such as PCOS. "Excessive hair growth strikes atthe femininity of women. We are talking about terminal hairs thatare harder, more pigmented and thicker than the usual soft hairsyou see." In fact, Azziz and his colleagues have previouslypublished studies indicating hirsutism is second to obesity in negatively impacting a woman's quality of life. "You coveryourself up at the beach. You don't want your partner to see younude. It can be very damaging to your psychosocial well-being," hesaid. The most widely used assessment today is about 50 years old andincludes nine body areas: the lip, chin, chest, upper and lowerabdomen, upper arm, thigh and upper and lower back. Many womenconsider this full body check invasive and it can be unwieldy forscientists doing large epidemiologic studies, Azziz said. For this study, Azziz examined 1,116 female patients at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham from 1987-2002 and 835 femalepatients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from 2003-09with symptoms of androgen excess. Study authors note the methodneeds further evaluation, including whether it can be used tomonitor success of hirsutism treatment. The hirsutism study is part of Azziz's ongoing research of theproblems related to androgen excess and PCOS. Diagnosis is a complex process that can include a history andphysical exam, quantifying hair growth, measuring male hormonelevels as well as an oral glucose tolerance test to determine thedegree of insulin excess and diabetes risk, said Azziz'scollaborator, Dr. Lawrence C. Layman, chief of the GHSU Section ofReproductive Endocrinology, Infertility and Genetics. It alsorequires ruling out syndromes or disorders with similar symptomssuch as non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which Azziz'steam helped differentiate. Current therapies, such as birth control pills to prevent androgen synthesis and the blood pressuremedicine, spironolactone, a diuretic that also blocks androgenreceptors, treat symptoms rather than causes, the researchers said. To improve diagnosis and treatment, they along with Azziz's longtime colleagues Dr. Yen-Hao Chen, biomedical scientist, and SalehHeneidi, research associate, are expanding the GHSU TissueRepository for Androgen-Related Disorders. In the past two decades,Azziz's team has collected more than 50,000 samples - includingfat, blood, urine, plasma and DNA - from about 7,000 women. Havingthis variety of samples, particularly from the same woman, enablesthe scientists to better put together the pieces that contribute tothe syndrome, Chen said. "These women have been to a lot of doctors and a lot of clinics andthey know that the medical knowledge out there is limited so theyare willing to help further research in this field," Azziz said ofthe significant patient contributions. Azziz is collaborating with scientists at Cedars-Sinai to identifythe multiple genes responsible, which they suspect also have rolesin insulin signaling, inflammation and androgen production. "Weknow that a significant portion of women with PCOS have aninherited defect of their insulin action which, along with othergenetic defects, results in the syndrome," he said. "If we can findthe genes that are abnormal, we may be able to find drugs to targetthose genes." His GHSU team is also examining signaling abnormalities in fat - adeterminant of insulin resistance in PCOS patients. "Clearly fat inPCOS behaves differently than fat in healthy women of the sameweight," Azziz said. They suspect the abnormal signals arepartially to blame for the abnormal response to insulin. They alsosuspect the signaling abnormalities are good treatment targets. Additional References Citations. I am an expert from gift-packagingboxes.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Cardboard Paper Box , Cardboard Photo Frame Manufacturer, Brown Kraft Paper Bag,and more.
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