A new retrospective analysis indicated that patients with newly diagnosed alopecia areata (AA) tended to have higher prevalence of psychiatric and autoimmune comorbidities.
Researchers for the study focused on adolescents and adults aged 12-64 years diagnosed with AA (compared to a control group without AA). Study data were drawn from the Merative MarketScan Research Databases between January 1, 2007, and April 30, 2023. The study identified 63,384 patients with AA and 3,309,107 controls.
After adjusting and matching for sex, age, and geographic region, a total of 16,512 patients were compared with 66,048 controls. The mean age of participants was approximately 37 years (50.6% female).
According to the results, there was a notably higher prevalence of psychiatric (30.9%) and autoimmune (16.1%) comorbidities in the AA group compared to the control group, with prevalence rates of 26.8% and 8.9%, respectively. The incidence of new-onset psychiatric and autoimmune conditions was also higher among patients with AA who had no prior history of the comorbidities. The adjusted hazard ratios showed a significantly increased risk of developing psychiatric (AHR=1.3; 95% CI, 1.3-1.4) and autoimmune (AHR=2.7; 95% CI, 2.5-2.8) disorders post-AA diagnosis.
"This cohort study found that patients with AA have a higher incidence of several new-onset psychiatric and autoimmune comorbidities within the first year of diagnosis, which could further exacerbate the disease burden and reduce quality of life of those affected," the authors wrote in their study. "Routine monitoring of patients with AA, especially those at risk of developing comorbidities, may permit earlier and more effective intervention."
Source: Mostaghimi A, et al. JAMA Dermatology. 2024. Doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2024.2404