Prevalence of Psychological Disorders in Patients with Alopecia Areata in Comparison with Normal Subjects

Alopecia areata is a chronic disease with a great impact on the patient's quality of life. In this study we reviewed the frequency of psychological disorders in patients with alopecia areata in comparison to a control group. We enrolled 40 patients with alopecia areata and a 40-volunteer random age-sex matched control group. The study is based on anxiety and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Analytical evaluation was done by Mann-Whitney, Kruskal Wallis, and t -tests. There was a significant difference between the case and control group regarding the prevalence of depression ( P value = 0.008), anxiety ( P value = 0.003), and neuroticism ( P value = 0.05). There was no significant differences regarding extraversion ( P value = 0.249), psychosis ( P value = 0.147), and lying ( P value = 0.899) between the two groups. In alopecia areata involving the head, there was a significant relation only between neuroticism ( P value = 0.045) and lying ( P value = 0.005). The facial involvement had a significant relation with depression ( P value = 0.020), anxiety ( P value = 0.019), and neuroticism ( P value = 0.029). The frequency of psychological disorders in the case group is significantly greater than the control group.