Quality of Life and Its Association with Androgenetic Alopecia Patients in Shanghai: A Cross-Sectional Study

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of androgenetic alopecia patients has become increasingly important, but the influencing factors associated with the different domains are poorly understood.

This study aimed to investigate the influencing factors in HRQoL of androgenetic alopecia patients and identify its strongly associated domains.

We enrolled 170 androgenetic alopecia patients. HRQoL was measured using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHO-BREF), and Hairdex.

HRQoL was significantly impaired in patients <30 years, (WHO-BREF: P=0.022, Hairdex: P=0.004), less educated (WHO-BREF: P=0.021, Hairdex: P=0.003), single patients (Hairdex: P=0.023), and urban residence (Hairdex: P=0.043). By domains, those <30 years were impaired by physical health (P=0.038) and psychological (P=0.030) by WHO-BREF, and symptoms (P=0.002) and emotions (P=0.002) by Hairdex. Singles were impaired by symptoms (P=0.020), and emotions (P=0.009) by Hairdex. Less-educated individuals had impaired all domains in the WHO-BREF and Hairdex, except for physical health. Women had impaired symptoms (P=0.013) and stigmatization (P=0.041) in Hairdex.

Androgenetic alopecia is associated with significantly reduced HRQoL in young, less educated, and single patients. Dermatologists should inquire about Quality of Life and appropriately support androgenetic alopecia patients.