Comparison of free salivary testosterone versus free serum testosterone levels in patients with hirsutism and control group

Hirsutism is defined as male pattern hair growth in females which affects 10% of women. Our aim was to compare free salivary and free serum testosterone levels in women with hirsutism and healthy controls. This study was a case-control study in which 30 hirsute women in child bearing age were recruited and compared with 10 healthy controls. For each patient, a questionnaire containing demographic, clinical and laboratory information was completed. The salivary and serum total and free testosterone plus free androgen index were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. The collected data were described and analyzed using SPSS software version 11.5. Significance level was determined at 0.05. No significant correlation was seen between salivary and serum free testosterone and in free androgen index with free testosteron in patients and control groups. Comparing the results between case and control groups, except for mean serum total testosterone level (P<0.05), the other results were not significantly different. No significant correlation was seen between hirsutism severity and free serum or salivary testosterone levels. Significant correlation was seen with total serum testosterone (P<0.001). Investigating correlations between these hormones with serum free androgen index, only salivary free testosterone was correlated with this index (r=0.01, P<0.05). In our study, we find no correlation between free serum and salivary testosterone, so it seems that this evaluation method is not an appropriate alternative for serum evaluation of this hormone.