Cardiovascular Risk in Patients with Alopecia Areata: A Propensity-Matched Retrospective Analysis
May 2016
in “
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
”
TLDR Patients with alopecia areata might have a lower risk of stroke and possibly heart attack.
This study conducted a propensity-matched retrospective analysis to assess the cardiovascular risk in patients with alopecia areata (AA) by examining the likelihood of developing stroke and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The analysis included 1,377 AA cases matched with 4,131 controls based on various factors such as age, race, gender, and medical history. The results indicated that patients with AA had decreased odds of developing stroke (odds ratio 0.39) and a trend toward a decreased risk of AMI (odds ratio 0.91), although these findings were not statistically significant. The study concluded that further research is needed to confirm these results and explore potential mechanisms.