Alopecia areata: What's new in the epidemiology, comorbidities, and pathogenesis?

Teruki Dainichi; Masashi Iwata; Yo Kaku

doi:10.1016/j.jdermsci.2023.09.008

Alopecia areata: What's new in the epidemiology, comorbidities, and pathogenesis?

J Dermatol Sci. 2023 Dec;112(3):120-127. doi: 10.1016/j.jdermsci.2023.09.008. Epub 2023 Oct 11.

Authors

Teruki Dainichi¹, Masashi Iwata², Yo Kaku³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dermatology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa, Japan. Electronic address: dainichi.teruki@kagawa-u.ac.jp.
² Department of Dermatology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa, Japan.
³ Department of Dermatology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa, Japan; Department of Dermatology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.

PMID: 37833164
DOI: 10.1016/j.jdermsci.2023.09.008

Abstract

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is a common, acquired, and nonscarring type of hair loss that affects people of every generation and is intractable in severe and relapsing cases. Patients with AA, especially those with greater scalp involvement, have poor health-related quality-of-life scores.

Purpose: Following our previous review article in the April 2017 issue of the Journal of Dermatological Science, we aim to provide a pair of review articles on recent progress in multidisciplinary approaches to AA.

Main findings: We found more than 1800 publications on AA from July 2016 to December 2022.

Conclusions: In this review, we focused on the latest information on the epidemiology, comorbidities, and pathogenesis of AA.

Keywords: Alopecia areata; Alopecia totalis; Alopecia universalis; Comorbidity; Epidemiology; Pathogenesis.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Alopecia
Alopecia Areata* / epidemiology
Alopecia Areata* / pathology
Comorbidity
Humans
Quality of Life
Recurrence

Supplementary concepts

Diffuse alopecia