Prevalence of Hair Loss After COVID-19 Infection in Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a worldwide pandemic with the most main symptoms seeming to be flu-like and fever. Besides that, dermatological manifestations have been reported as extra respiratory symptoms in previous studies. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of hair loss after COVID-19 infection in Saudi Arabia, and we hope to improve the knowledge on hair loss - a cause of common dermatological consultation that frequently becomes a stressful event associated with the pandemic - among all the physicians in all the specialties. Methodology This was a record-based retrospective cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted in four centers in the Makkah region. We identified 343 patients who visited the dermatology clinic for hair loss during the period 2020 to 2022. Results Evidence suggests that hair loss had been the most frequently reported post COVID-19 manifestation (48%). Our results revealed nearly half of the participants (48.5%) noticed hair loss increases by more than 120 hairs per day after COVID-19 infection, as well as half of the participants (52.6%) reported seeing hair accumulation on a pillow. Our results showed that telogen effluvium (TE) was the most reported type (156, 86.7%), followed by alopecia areata (15, 8.3%) and androgenic alopecia (9, 5.0%). Conclusion The results suggest that hair loss is noticeably prevalent in patients following COVID-19 infection, especially in females and patients with multiple comorbidities. Telogen effluvium (TE) was the most prevalent type of hair loss recognized among the patients.

Keywords: alopecia.; covid-19; hair loss; sars‑cov‑2; telogen effluvium.