Adolescent Alopecia prevalent among females with iron deficiency, suggests study
A new study published in the journal of Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Panonica, et Adriatica showed that the frequency of adolescent alopecia was very high, and it was more frequent in girls. A major contributing cause is iron deficiency, which emphasizes the necessity of dietary evaluation and monitoring in impacted teenagers.
Adolescents are more susceptible to micronutrient deficiencies that can impact the cycle and integrity of hair follicles because to their fast development, hormonal changes, and increasing nutritional needs. One of the most common nutritional conditions in the world, iron deficiency is particularly widespread in low-resource environments where food intake may be insufficient and parasitic or infectious infections are prominent.
Iron deficiency has been connected to telogen effluvium and widespread hair shedding. Iron is important for cellular proliferation and oxygen delivery, both of which are necessary for regular hair development. Due to variables including poor dietary diversity, food hardship, and monthly blood loss in females, adolescents in Northern Sudan are particularly vulnerable to iron deficiency. Despite this, there is still a dearth of information about the prevalence of hair loss and its dietary correlates in this group. To identify at-risk individuals early on and creating focused nutritional and public health interventions, it is critical to comprehend the prevalence of hair loss in teenagers and its correlation with iron deficiency.
To provide data for preventative measures and adolescent health policy in areas with limited resources, this study intends to assess the extent of hair loss among teenagers in northern Sudan and investigate its association with iron deficiency. To do that a clinical examination and questionnaire were used to perform a cross-sectional research.
312 teenagers in all took part: 165 girls (52.9%) and 147 boys (47.1%). Alopecia was seen in 21.2% of the teenagers. Alopecia was more common in women (93.9%) than in men (6.1%). Adolescents with alopecia had substantially lower serum ferritin levels than those without (6.05 [2.58 12.63] vs. 9.40 [4.88 23.40] μg/l, p = 0.002). Alopecia was linked to iron insufficiency (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-3.71), according to multivariate analysis.
Age, BMI, and parental educational attainment, however, did not correlate. Of the teenagers with alopecia, 34.8% had traction alopecia, 37.9% had diffuse alopecia, and 27.3% had patchy alopecia. Overall, adolescent alopecia is rather common, especially in girls. A major contributing factor to alopecia was iron deficiency, highlighting the significance of dietary monitoring in this population.
Source:
Alotaib, M. K., & Adam, I. (2025). The prevalence of hair loss and its association with iron deficiency among adolescents in northern Sudan: a school-based cross-sectional study. Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Panonica, et Adriatica, 34(4), 159–163. https://doi.org/10.15570/actaapa.2025.29
