AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS IN CASES WITH ALOPECIA AREATA PRESENTED TO TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Ghafoor Ullah; Hira Rehman; Tooba Rehman; Marwah Rehman; Filza Ajmal; Sidra Shabbir

doi:10.46903/gjms/23.4.Suppl.2039

AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS IN CASES WITH ALOPECIA AREATA PRESENTED TO TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Ghafoor Ullah, Hira Rehman, Tooba Rehman, Marwah Rehman, Filza Ajmal, Sidra Shabbir

Abstract

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune condition which is recognized for its association with various autoimmune disorders. While previous studies have validated links between AA and autoimmune conditions, the data in our setup remain limited, we conducted this study to assess the frequency of autoimmune disease in patients presenting with AA.

Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 01-Novemeber-2024 to 01-May-2025 at Department of Dermatology, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, in which 117 AA patients were enrolled using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. We assessed the autoimmune diseases like hypothyroidism, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, diabetes, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. Statistical analysis was conducted by Statistical package for social sciences. We used mean and SD for age and duration of AA. Frequency and percentages were evaluated for demographics and AD. Chi square test was used for assessing association of AD with age and gender, keeping significance level at P ≤ 0.05.

Results: There were 117 patients included in this study. Mean age turned out to be 33.97±8.82 years. There 79 males (67.5%) and 38 females (32.5%). Atopic dermatitis was found in 21 (17.9%) patients. Hypothyroidism and diabetes in 9 (7.7%) patients each. Vitiligo 4 (3.4%). Psoriasis in 3 (2.6%) and rheumatoid arthritis was 2 (1.7%).

Conclusion: We found a notable pattern of autoimmune diseases associated with alopecia areata, thyroid disorders, diabetes and atopic dermatitis emerged as the most frequent conditions.

Keywords

Alopecia areata; Autoimmune disorders; Atopic dermatitis; Thyroid dysfunction; Vitiligo.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.46903/gjms/23.4.Suppl.2039