Efficacy of modern methods for assessing the severity of alopecia areata

Abstract

Purpose of the study. To evaluate the effectiveness of the standardized SALT scale to determine the severity of AA patients.Materials and methods. A one-time retrospective cohort study was conducted. There were 40 patients with AA under supervision. The gender distribution of the patients was as follows: 15 men (36.6%) and 25 (63.3%) women. The average age was 29.4 years in the 18–54 age range.Results. The AA debut varied widely in age range from 2 to 45 years. The average age at which the pathological process began was 18,2±4,4 years. 22.4% of patients with a scalp hair area of more than 25%, as well as hair loss in other areas of the body and changes in the nail.The beginning of AA is fixed to 10 years. More than two relapses occurred in 54.5% of patients with scalp hair lesions of more than 25% and only 9.2% of cases with foetal AA.The following clinical forms were diagnosed: foetal (12 patients), lenticular (ophiasis, inversive ophiasis) (7 patients), multi-focal (11 patients), total and universal (10 patients). According to the SBN Hair Loss State scale, S1 clinically corresponded to focal alopecia, S2 -S4 – ophazis, multi-focal alopecia, S5 – TA and UA. Partial or complete hair loss has been noted in these areas in 38% of patients with S2-S3 and 67% with S4-S5 clinical forms. The combination of different degrees of body hair loss and dystrophy of nail plates in examined AA patients was observed in 25% of cases.Conclusion. In determining the severity of alopecia nest principally not only the size and number of lesions on the skin scalp, but also the nature of hair loss on the skin of the eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as the possible combination of hair loss and dystrophic altered nail plates, which is considered an option for a more severe course of the disease. The SBN system effectively evaluates and describes the clinical variant of AA according to a standardized scale, which can help determine clinical management of patients with different manifestations, as well as predict the course of the disease.