Association of Androgenetic Alopecia With Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

BACKGROUND Androgenetic alopecia has been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease in various studies. Androgenetic alopecia is the most common type of alopecia in men., characterised by the transformation of thick terminal hair follicles in to thin vellus like hair follicles. It occurs under the influence of androgens in genetically predisposed individuals. The mode of inheritance is polygenic. The relationship between androgenetic alopecia and metabolic syndrome, is a known risk factor for atherosclerotic diseases. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of inter related risk factors that increase the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Our study looked at the association between metabolic syndrome and androgenetic alopecia in the age group of 20-45 yrs. men. We wanted to study the association between androgenetic alopecia and metabolic syndrome. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional study was done on men in the age group of 20 to 45 years. Two groups are taken in to the study. The first group is androgenetic alopecia group and the second group is non alopecia group. Study is undertaken for a period of 3 months, hence feasible sample size 30 is taken. Age of the study population is restricted to 20-45 years because incidence of androgenetic alopecia increases with age. Statistical association between androgenetic alopecia and metabolic syndrome was studied using students t test and chi square test SPSS version 20. RESULTS Metabolic syndrome was seen in 8 out of 30 samples (26%) in the androgenetic alopecia group, 4 out of 30 samples (13%) in nonalopecia group, p value is 0.015. Central obesity and HDL are elevated in most of the samples of androgenetic alopecia group. Limitation of our study was the small sample size. CONCLUSIONS High prevalence of metabolic syndrome is seen in men with androgenetic alopecia. Investigating for metabolic syndrome in patients with androgenetic alopecia is helpful for early detection and prevention of coronary artery disease.