G Titeca1, L Goudetsidis2, B Francq3, F Sampogna4, U Gieler5, L Tomas-Aragones6, L Lien7, G B E Jemec8,9, L Misery10, C Szabo11, D Linder12, A W M Evers13, J A Halvorsen14, F Balieva15, J Szepietowski16, D Romanov17, S E Marron18, I K Altunay19, A Y Finlay20, S S Salek21, J Kupfer22, F J Dalgard23,24, F Poot25. 1. Department of Dermatology, Clinique Notre-Dame de Grâce, Gosselies, Belgium. 2. Université Libre de Bruxelles, Gosselies, Belgium. 3. Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics, and Actuarial Sciences, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. 4. Clinical Epidemiology Unit, IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy. 5. Department of Dermatology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. 6. Department of Psychology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. 7. Department of Public Health, Hedmark University College, Elverum, Norway. 8. Department of Dermatology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark. 9. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. 10. Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Brest, Brest, France. 11. Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. 12. Section of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 13. Institute of Psychology Health, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands. 14. Department of Dermatology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 15. Department of Dermatology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway. 16. Department of Dermatology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland. 17. Department of Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, Mental Health Research Center, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia. 18. Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Miguel Servet. IIS Aragon, Zaragoza, Spain. 19. Department of Dermatology, Sisli Etfal Teaching and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. 20. Department of Dermatology, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK. 21. Department of Pharmacy, Pharmacology and Postgraduate Medicine, School of Life & Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. 22. Institute of Medical Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. 23. Department of Dermatology, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden. 24. National Center for Dual Diagnosis, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumundal, Norway. 25. Department of Dermatology, Hôpital Erasme, Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hair diseases play an important burden on patients' lives, causing significant emotional and psychosocial distress. However, the impairment due to different hair conditions, such as alopecia areata (AA) and androgenetic alopecia (AGA), has rarely been compared. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the psychological burden of subgroups of patients with different hair diseases and to compare them to a healthy population. METHODS: In this study, we analysed a subgroup of patients with hair diseases from patients of a large multicentre study including 3635 dermatological patients and 1359 controls from 13 European countries. In the subgroup of patients with hair diseases, we analysed the socio-demographic characteristics, the stress level, and the impact of hair diseases on quality of life (QoL), anxiety, and depression and we compared them among patients with AA, AGA and healthy controls. RESULTS: The study population included 115 patients (77% women, 23% men) with hair diseases, 37 of whom with AA and 20 with AGA. Patients with hair diseases had a lower education level than healthy controls (medium educational level: 43% vs. 28%). Overall, 41% of the patients reported stressful life events during the last 6 months compared with 31% of the controls. Patients with the same age, sex, depression level and comorbidities had a worse QoL when suffering from AA than from AGA (Mean Dermatology Life Quality Index score: 5.8 vs. 2.5). CONCLUSION: Patients with hair diseases are more anxious, depressed and have a lower QoL than controls.
BACKGROUND:Hair diseases play an important burden on patients' lives, causing significant emotional and psychosocial distress. However, the impairment due to different hair conditions, such as alopecia areata (AA) and androgenetic alopecia (AGA), has rarely been compared. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the psychological burden of subgroups of patients with different hair diseases and to compare them to a healthy population. METHODS: In this study, we analysed a subgroup of patients with hair diseases from patients of a large multicentre study including 3635 dermatological patients and 1359 controls from 13 European countries. In the subgroup of patients with hair diseases, we analysed the socio-demographic characteristics, the stress level, and the impact of hair diseases on quality of life (QoL), anxiety, and depression and we compared them among patients with AA, AGA and healthy controls. RESULTS: The study population included 115 patients (77% women, 23% men) with hair diseases, 37 of whom with AA and 20 with AGA. Patients with hair diseases had a lower education level than healthy controls (medium educational level: 43% vs. 28%). Overall, 41% of the patients reported stressful life events during the last 6 months compared with 31% of the controls. Patients with the same age, sex, depression level and comorbidities had a worse QoL when suffering from AA than from AGA (Mean Dermatology Life Quality Index score: 5.8 vs. 2.5). CONCLUSION:Patients with hair diseases are more anxious, depressed and have a lower QoL than controls.
Authors: Abby E Macbeth; Susan Holmes; Matthew Harries; Wing Sin Chiu; Christos Tziotzios; Simon de Lusignan; Andrew G Messenger; Andrew R Thompson Journal: Br J Dermatol Date: 2022-05-11 Impact factor: 11.113