Study finds earlier onset of alopecia in women who wear the hijab

"Targeting these risk factors among women who wear the hijab may be considered for hair loss prevention," the researchers noted.

In the study involving 165 women, 125 of whom wore the hijab, the researchers found that those who wore the hijab experienced hair loss at a younger age and had a higher telogen effluvium prevalence, especially if they had concurrent vitamin D deficiency or seborrheic dermatitis. However, there was no significant difference in the rates of female pattern hair loss and traction alopecia between those who wore the hijab and those who did not.

Not much is known about hair loss associated with hijab-wearing, a religious head covering worn by Muslim women. Marissa S. Ceresnie, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI, USA, and colleagues performed a single-centre analysis to determine the association between various forms of non-scarring alopecia and wearing the hijab.

This study comprised 125 patients who wore the hijab and 40 race/ethnicity-matched women who did not wear the hijab.

The study revealed the following findings:

• Among the 165 total patients diagnosed between January 2015 and March 2022, 71 had telogen effluvium, 78 had female pattern hair loss, and 16 had traction alopecia.
• Patients who wore the hijab had a younger mean age of alopecia onset than patients who did not wear the hijab (31.5 versus 37.3 years).
• Vitamin D deficiency (OR 4.1) and seborrheic dermatitis (OR 2.9) may significantly impact the development of telogen effluvium in patients who wear the hijab.

"Our findings suggest that women who wear the hijab may experience earlier alopecia onset, specifically telogen effluvium when associated with underlying vitamin D deficiency or seborrheic dermatitis," the researchers wrote, "which highlights the importance of addressing these risk factors to prevent hair loss in this population."

Reference:

Ceresnie, M.S., Mohney, L., Seale, L. et al. The development of non-scarring alopecia in women who wear the hijab. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 2947–2949 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02713-3