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  • Title: Stress in patients with alopecia areata and vitiligo.
    Author: Manolache L, Benea V.
    Journal: J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol; 2007 Aug; 21(7):921-8. PubMed ID: 17659001.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: To study the involvement of stress before the onset/development of alopecia areata and vitiligo. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Forty-five outpatients with alopecia areata and 32 outpatients with vitiligo were enrolled. The design was a case-control study (controls had skin diseases unrelated to stress). Stressful events were evaluated using Holmes and Rahe's social readjustment rating scale. RESULTS: Mean age was around 30 years in both conditions. More than 65% of cases (both alopecia areata and vitiligo) experienced stressful events compared to 22% of controls. The odds ratio was 7.75 for alopecia areata and 6.81 for vitiligo. There was a significant difference in the mean number of stressful events between alopecia areata patients and controls (P = 0.005), and also a significant difference in the number of stressful events between men (P = 0.05) and women (P = 0.001) across these two groups. In the vitiligo group there was a significant difference in the mean number of stressful events between patients and controls only in women (P = 0.02). A potential stressful situation occurred more often in both patient groups. Alopecia areata patients described family problems in 45.6% of patients (especially women), which was statistically significant when compared to controls (P = 0.0004). Personal problems were reported by 35.7% of alopecia areata patients (P = 0.04 compared to controls). Vitiligo patients mentioned personal problems in 47% of cases (one-third were related to exams) and 31% of cases were related to job/financial problems. Again, this was statistically significant when compared to controls (P = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: Stress seems to play an important role in the onset and aggravation of both alopecia areata and vitiligo, mostly with one stressful event before disease onset.
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