Anxiety, depression, and quality of life in children and adults with alopecia areata: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Alopecia areata (AA) is a non-scarring hair loss condition, subclassified into AA, alopecia universalis, and alopecia totalis. There are indications that people with AA experience adverse psychosocial outcomes, but previous studies have not included a thorough meta-analysis and did not compare peopl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Frontiers in medicine Vol. 9; p. 1054898
Main Authors:	van Dalen, Marije, Muller, Kirsten S, Kasperkovitz-Oosterloo, Johanna M, Okkerse, Jolanda M E, Pasmans, Suzanne G M A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 29-11-2022
Subjects:	alopecia alopecia areata anxiety depression Medicine psychosocial functioning quality of life anxiety psychosocial functioning alopecia meta-analysis depression alopecia areata quality of life
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Summary:	Alopecia areata (AA) is a non-scarring hair loss condition, subclassified into AA, alopecia universalis, and alopecia totalis. There are indications that people with AA experience adverse psychosocial outcomes, but previous studies have not included a thorough meta-analysis and did not compare people with AA to people with other dermatological diagnoses. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to update and expand previous systematic reviews, as well as describing and quantifying levels of anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL) in children and adults with AA. A search was conducted, yielding 1,249 unique records of which 93 were included. Review results showed that people with AA have higher chances of being diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression and experience impaired QoL. Their psychosocial outcomes are often similar to other people with a dermatological condition. Meta-analytic results showed significantly more symptoms of anxiety and depression in adults with AA compared to healthy controls. Results also showed a moderate impact on QoL. These results further highlight that AA, despite causing little physical impairments, can have a significant amount on patients' well-being. Future studies should examine the influence of disease severity, disease duration, remission and relapse, and medication use to shed light on at-risk groups in need of referral to psychological care. [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/], identifier [CRD42022323174].
Bibliography:	content type line 23 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 Reviewed by: Alina Constantin, British Association of Dermatologists, United Kingdom; Andrew Messenger, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom This article was submitted to Dermatology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Medicine Edited by: Andrew Robert Thompson, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, United Kingdom
ISSN:	2296-858X 2296-858X
DOI:	10.3389/fmed.2022.1054898