Polycystic ovarian disease: diagnosis, frequency and symptoms in a general gynaecological practice.

A study was undertaken to assess the relative frequency of polycystic ovarian disease (POD) among patients with menstrual irregularities and/or hirsutism, and was based on 24-hour urinary steroid profiles under basal conditions, after dexamethasone suppression and after human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) stimulation. The final diagnosis was confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy and ovarian histology. Fifty-six patients were studied, 38 (38 per cent) of whom had POD. Laboratory results were subjected to multivariate discriminant analysis and a discriminant function was calculated to classify patients into POD, and non-POD subgroups. Steroid profiling under basal conditions was sufficient to classify most of the patient into one of three groups: normal, POD and other endocrinopathies. Of the patients with POD, 70 per cent had an abnormal reaction to dexamethasone or HCG. Significant differences were found in the steroid profiles of ovulating and non ovulating patients with POD.