Stressful Life Events and Alopecia Areata

Abstract

ABSTRACT Several studies have demonstrated that the onset of alopecia areata (AA) is preceeded by stressful life events which may act as a trigger for disease onset. Other clinical accounts suggest that because AA is disfiguring, it is extraordinarily stressful itself and may cause secondary symptoms such as anxiety or depression. Few studies, however, have examined what, if any, factors predict the impact of stressful life events in previously diagnosed patients with AA. This information may be very important insomuch as stress may encourage treatment noncompliance and may also predict the onset of psychiatric symptomatology. The purpose of this study was to test the following hypotheses: (1) AA is associated with higher stress than other hair loss conditions or normal controls, (2) AA is associated with higher stress in female subjects, (3) AA is more stressful for subjects with a young age of onset, (4) there is no association between race and stress in AA, (5) longer duration of AA is associated with ...