Alopecia aeata: Clinical spectrum and its association with thyroid dysfunction in Bahawalpur

Objective To study the clinical spectrum of alopecia areata (AA) and the frequency of thyroid dysfunction in alopecia areata patients. Methods A cross sectional study was carried out in department of Dermatology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur for the duration of 6 months. A total of 183 patients suffering from AA of any severity belonging to either sex and age between 20 to 50 were included. All patients were evaluated for severity of AA (mild, moderate, severe, totalis) and their blood samples were taken to analyse thyroid hormones level and antithyroid antibodies. Results Out of 183 patients, 103(56.28%) were males and 80(43.72%) were females. Mean age of patients was 34.80±8.36 years. The mean duration of disease was 6.39±2.44 months. The clinical spectrum of AA was seen as mild in 44.26%, moderate in 39.51%, severe in 15.85% and alopecia totalis in 10.38% patients. The thyroid dysfunction was seen in 13 (7.10%) of AA patients. Conclusion This study concluded that there is high frequency of mild AA and frequency of thyroid dysfunction in AA patients is quite high.