Alopecia areata: What's new in the epidemiology, comorbidities, and pathogenesis?

Abstract

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is a common, acquired, and nonscarring type of hair loss that affects people of every generation and is intractable in severe and relapsing cases. Patients with AA, especially those with greater scalp involvement, have poor health-related quality-of-life scores.

Purpose: Following our previous review article in the April 2017 issue of the Journal of Dermatological Science, we aim to provide a pair of review articles on recent progress in multidisciplinary approaches to AA.

Main findings: We found more than 1800 publications on AA from July 2016 to December 2022.

Conclusions: In this review, we focused on the latest information on the epidemiology, comorbidities, and pathogenesis of AA.

Keywords: Alopecia areata; Alopecia totalis; Alopecia universalis; Comorbidity; Epidemiology; Pathogenesis.