Alopecia Areata Associated With Severe Psychosocial Impact
THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- Alopecia areata (AA) has a severe psychosocial impact, which is linked to illness perceptions and stigma more strongly than disease severity, according to a study published online July 16 in the British Journal of Dermatology.
Evangelos Christou, M.D., from the Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, and colleagues examined the psychosocial impact of AA to identify high-risk subgroups and key perceptions linked to worse quality of life (QoL), anxiety, and depression. The cross-sectional study included 596 patients with AA who self-reported disease severity.
The researchers found that patients perceived AA as chronic and life-impacting, with limited personal or treatment control, significant emotional effects, and high concern. Eighty-one percent of patients reported anxiety or depressive symptoms; 67 percent reported feeling embarrassed by their illness often or always and 39 percent reported embarrassment by their physical limitations often or always; 34 percent of patients reported problems with usual activities, including work, housework, and family or leisure activities, while 42 percent reported pain or discomfort. All were strongly associated with perceptions of illness. Perceptions of illness and stigma explained a higher proportion of variance in QoL, anxiety, and depression than disease severity in hierarchical regression analyses. Two distinct patient groups were identified in a cluster analysis based on illness perceptions, with different levels of QoL, anxiety, depression, and stigma.
"The identification of two distinct patient profiles based on these perceptions highlights significant differences in the psychosocial burden of AA and identifies patients at risk of experiencing worse psychological outcomes," the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry, including Pfizer, which partially funded the study.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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