The Analysis Of The Related Factors To The Severity Of Alopecia Areata

Objective: To analyze the possible relationship between disease severity and the clinic characteristics of alopecia areata and provide the possibilities to make a prognosis at onset of AA.Methods: The clinical data of 314 alopecia areata patients on dermatology clinic of our hospital were collected, and the clinical features, including gender, age, age of onset, duration, recurrence, hair loss area, personal and/or family history of allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, family history and nail changes, were analyzed. Measurement data using t test, count data usingχ2 test, and conducting multivariate Logistic regression analysis.Results: In 314 cases of AA , there were 160 (50.9%) males and 154 (49.1%) females. The ratio of male to female was 1.04:1. The age of AA onset was from 1 year to 74 years and the mean year was (28.48±14.05) years old. The duration of AA was from 1 day to 18 years and the median duration was 4 months old. There were 198(63.1%) cases with mild AA(mild group) and 116(36.9%) cases with severe AA(severe group). 10.1% of AA patients had positive family history, 36.9% of AA patients had nail changes, 15.6% of AA patients had personal and/or familial history of allergic diseases, 5.4% of AA had history of autoimmune diseases. The disease duration of the severe group was significantly longer than that of the mild group ((t=-7.337, P <0.05), and the age of onset of the severe group was significantly younger than that in the mild group ((t=2.910, P <0.05). The percentages of cases with nail changes were significantly higher than those in the mild group (χ2 =28.784, P <0.05). There were no statistical differences between the mild group and the severe group in the gender, recurrence, personal and/or family history of allergic diseases, history of autoimmune diseases and family history (P> 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that long duration, early age of onset and nail changes were risk factors of severe AA.Conclusion: The severity of AA was associated with duration, age of onset and nail changes. Long duration, early age of onset and nail changes were risk factors of the severe AA. The severity of AA may be no associated with gender, recurrence, family history, personal and/or family history of allergic diseases and history of autoimmune diseases.