ISSN: 2155-9554
+44 1478 350008
Abdulmajeed M Alajlan, Mohammed Eid Alqahtani and Khalid Abdullah Binown
King Saud University, KSA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Dermatol Res
Introduction: Alopecia areata (AA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that has variation in severity ranging from simple well circumscribed small area of hair loss to persistent baldness. It is relatively a common disease with a lifetime incidence of approximately 2%. Despite how important and common is this disorder, there was no studies found in the literature regarding the prevalence of alopecia areata in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study design is quantitative, observational, cross sectional study based on an online Arabic questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed online through social media (twitter, Facebook, etc) targeting people who lives in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire contains questions such as age of onset, affected body part, type of treatment and family history of the disease. The sample size is 4706 with confidence interval of 95% and precision of 0.004 from the worldwide calculated lifetime incidence 2% of AA. Results: Of the 5365 patients who were included in our study, 747 (14%) patient had alopecia areata at least once in their lives. The majority of the affected people had the disease when they were at the age of 16-20 years old (24%). The male to female ratio in the affected population is 1:1. Most of the recovered patients used herbal medicines (17%) followed by localized injections and topical creams respectively. 36% of the affected population had at least one first degree relative with AA. Conclusion: In comparison with the worldwide calculated lifetime incidence of AA (2%), we have significantly higher numbers (14%).
Email: mohammed.qahtani@hotmail.com