Cross sectional quality of life assessment in patients with androgenetic alopecia.

Assessment of quality of life (QOL) of patients with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) has become increasingly important, both in order to evaluate the influence of the disease on patients and the therapy they require. We aimed to assess QOL in subjects complaining from AGA and evaluated the effects of various sociodemographic factors affecting their QOL. QOL was assessed in 400 patients with AGA and 100 controls using the World Health Organization Quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Four domains (physical, psychological, social, and environmental) and two items (overall perception of QOL and health) of the WHOQOL-BREF were the primary end points of this study. Patients had a lower QoL and less general satisfaction in all four domains of assessment than controls. The social impact was significantly higher in patients < 30 years of age (P = .003). Patients with severer form of AGA significantly had higher scores in all domains compared to those with less severe forms. Disease severity negatively impacted all the four domains significantly (P = .021). AGA harmfully affected the patient's QOL which warns the physicians to pay more attention to QOL impairment in patients of AGA for the better understanding of the disease burden on individual patients.
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