Increased Risk of Cardiac and Metabolic Disorders in Alopecia Areata

A new study from the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology showed that patients with alopecia areata are at increased risk of certain cardiac and metabolic issues.

The study involved extraction of data from a large electronic database (the Explorys electronic aggregate database), which houses medical records data from more than 50 million patients across the United States. The researchers compared a group of patients with alopecia areata (n=33,130) to a group without AA (n=57,246,350).

Compared with control patients, patients with AA had elevated prevalence rates of several conditions including hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. Coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and stroke were increased as well.

Increased odds for metabolic disorders, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and stroke.

In regression models, patients with AA had significantly increased odds for metabolic disorders, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and stroke. The odds of myocardial infarction (heart attacks) was not significantly elevated in patients compared with control patients (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.97-1.12)

Conclusion

This is one of the largest studies to date examining the relationship between AA and cardiovascular disease. The study was not designed to allow further investigation into these risks according to subtype of AA or AA severity so we don’t know if risks are different in alopecia universalis compared to patchy alopecia areata.

Further research may provide insight into how best to reduce this risk in certain patient subgroups.

Reference

Conic RRZ et al. Prevalence of cardiac and metabolic diseases among patients with alopecia areata [published online August 11, 2020]. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. doi: 10.1111/jdv.16864