Volume 26, Issue 123, May 2022

Prevalence of Alopecia Areata and associated diseases in Hail Region, Saudi Arabia

Fawwaz Farih Alshammarie^1♦, Wael Saleh Alanazi², Sara Abdullah Aledaili², Turki Saad Aljuhani², Faisal Fahad Alshammari²

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia
²Medical Intern, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is a multifactorial inflammatory autoimmune disease which causes pattern baldness on scalp and other body parts. Although it is not a life threating condition it affects a person physiological health. It is not a rare condition and affects 2% of the global population. Up till now, status about its prevalence and gender distribution in Hail region, Saudi Arabia has not been surveyed. Objective: The study aimed to asses Alopecia Areata prevalence, characteristic, gender differences and associated diseases in Hail region, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was performed among Hail city population from September to November 2021. Results: Up to 813 participants completed the questionnaire; we found the prevalence of AA in Hail to be (18.21%). Allergic rhinitis was the most disease encountered to be related to AA (8.55%) followed by Thyroid diseases (7.24%). From the participant only 12 were diagnosed with COVID-19 (11%) of them noticed hair fall in the period after infected with COVID-19 and Only (4.20%) of patients affected with AA reported a relapse after receiving a vaccine dose Conclusion: Overall, we found that AA is more prevalent in Hail compared to other studies done in Saudi Arabia and the west. The study showed that AA is more in males when compared to females. It also revealed that there is minimal chance of having AA relapsed either after infestation with COVID-19 or receiving a vaccine dose.

Keywords: alopecia areata, hair loss, alopecia prevalence, hail, hair fall

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms162e2184

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i123/ms162e2184

Published: 05 May 2022