Clinical, biochemical and ultrasound comparison of FHA and PCOS.
Comparisons between women with FHA and PCOS are summarised in Table 1.
Further details about the characteristics of PCOS patients are
summarised in supporting table S2. Dot plots comparing parameters
between groups are displayed in figure 1. Women with FHA had a
significantly lower mean BMI than women with PCOS. This finding was
further supported by a significant association between reproductive
disorder type and BMI category (P<0.0001); 23/81 (28%) of
women with FHA had a BMI < 18.5 kg/m2compared to only 2/81 (2.5%) of women with PCOS. Significantly fewer
women with FHA 25/51 (49%) than women with PCOS 78/82 (95%) reported
hyperandrogenism symptoms P<0.0001). There is a statistically
significant difference in most of the studied hormonal parameters
between the two group populations. Women with FHA have lower LH,
estradiol, LH:FSH ratio, TSH and FT4 as well as prolactin levels. In
addition, endometrial thickness was considerably thinner in the FHA
group.