Androgenetic alopecia: Quality-of-life and associated lifestyle patterns

Abstract

Background:Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a condition, which is an important psychosocial problem. The hormonal variations causing AGA are known, but whether behavioral patterns and lifestyle influence the condition and which age groups they influence is uncertain and such factors have not been studied in detail.Objectives:To compare association of lifestyle patterns with androgenetic alopecia, prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and resulting quality-of-life (QoL) between two age groups of males with AGA.Materials and Methods:Male subjects in each of the two age groups attending the hair clinic diagnosed with AGA were administered a questionnaire on lifestyle patterns. HAIRDEX and symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) to study the presence of psychosocial problems and QoL were used. The stress experienced by such patients was studied by a stressful life events scale.Results:Of the 37 patients studied, 23 were in younger age group (average age) and 14 were in the older age group (average age). No significant difference was found in lifestyle, as far as eating habits, physical activity, occupational activity and leisure time were concerned. However, the younger age group had a significantly better psychological health. (P=0.013). On assessing the QoL, self-assurance seemed better in younger age group (P=0.014), reflecting changing societal trends, causing better acceptance of hair loss. On the other subscales, emotions seemed to be more affected in the younger age group, while older patients had worse functioning, more symptoms and more sense of stigmatization. On assessing SCL-90, no significant psychopathological difference was found between both the groups; however the older patients appeared to have more psychological symptoms on almost all scales scoring highly on obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity and depression subscales. No significant difference in stressful life events at the time of onset of alopecia was noticed although older patients scored higher on this scale. Family history was found to be significantly associated with the onset of alopecia (P=0.0448).Conclusions:We concluded that lifestyle factors and stressful life events are not significantly affected by the onset of AGA. Only heredity seems to be associated with hair loss. Quality-of-life is affected in both the age groups but younger patients seem to have better self-assurance as well as better psychological health.

Impact of Androgenic Alopecia on the Quality of Life in Male Subjects: Results of an Observational Study from Tertiary Care Hospital

“…In a study older patients were more severely afflicted for subscales of functioning, stigmatization and symptoms whereas emotional score was more severely affected in young population. 20 In our study, older subjects had more severe symptoms. Similar to our findings, Neena et al 20 also found symptom score to be more in the older age group as compared with younger individuals.…”

Cap Wearing and Quality of Life in Patients with Androgenic Alopecia amongst Indian Population

“…Also increasing hours of cap wearing among males with androgenic alopecia showed decrease in interest to seek medical treatment (p=0.001) which implies that wearing a cap for a longer period of time helps to ward off the social stigma and the psychological effects of alopecia in them. This study serves as a baseline to help physicians understand the effects on quality of life in patients with androgenic alopecia as well as in prescribing cap wearing for them on a long term daily basis [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Alopecia androgénica femenina: nuevos factores fisiopatológicos y futuras tendencias para un abordaje clínico más integral

“…El cuestionario Hairdex ® es una herramienta muy utilizada en este sentido, y consta de 48 preguntas de respuesta múl-tiple que valoran el estado emocional, la función, los síntomas, la seguridad en uno mismo y la estigmatización. Otra herramienta común es el Symptom Check List-90-R (SCL-90-R), un instrumento de cuantificación sintomática que permite medir la intensidad de 90 síntomas psicológicos y psicopatológicos 10 . Los cuestionarios Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) y Skindex-29 fueron desarrollados para evaluar la calidad de vida en los problemas de la piel, pero también se utilizan en la alopecia ante la escasez de escalas específicas en este campo 11 .…”