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

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2023-12-11T07:30:54+05:30 | Updated On 11 Dec 2023 10:52 AM IST

USA: A recent study published in the Archives of Dermatological Research has suggested an increased risk of earlier onset of alopecia in women who wear the hijab, particularly telogen effluvium when linked with vitamin D deficiency or seborrheic dermatitis.

"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

Archives of Dermatological Researchhijabalopeciahair lossvitamin Dtelogen effluviumfemale pattern hair losstraction alopecia

Source : Archives of Dermatological Research

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751