Quality of life, mental health and self-esteem in hirsute adolescent females.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of hirsutism on general quality of life, self-esteem and the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among adolescent girls.


METHODS
Fifty adolescent females with hirsutism, aged 13-18 years, were enrolled in the research group. The control group comprised 50 non-hirsute adolescents. A specific questionnaire was used as the research tool. It included self-evaluation inventories: Short Form-36 Health Survey Version 2, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.


RESULTS
Quality of life indices for hirsute girls scored lower than for the controls and statistically significantly so with regard to physical functioning (p = 0.04), general health (p = 0.002) and social functioning (p = 0.007). Anxiety was diagnosed in 26% in the group of hirsute girls as compared with 10% of the controls (p = 0.03). The study analysis revealed more clinically significant problems of low self-esteem in hirsute adolescents compared with non-hirsute girls (14% vs. 2%).


CONCLUSIONS
Hirsutism is associated with a decreased quality of life, a higher prevalence of anxiety disorder and lower self-esteem in adolescent females. The mother's level of education is associated with the quality of life in adolescent girls.
Drosdzol
Agnieszka
A
Faculty of Woman's Health, Medical University of Silesia, ul. Medyków 12, Katowice 40-752, Poland. cor111@poczta.onet.pl
Skrzypulec
Violetta
V
Plinta
Ryszard
R
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006628:Hirsutism / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires