A Hospital-Based Study to Determine Causes of Diffuse Hair Loss in Women
January 2015
in “
Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research
”
telogen effluvium androgenetic alopecia diffuse alopecia areata diffuse lupus erythematosus hair loss chronic telogen effluvium female pattern hair loss anagen effluvium psychological stress iron deficiency anemia low hemoglobin serum ferritin levels female pattern baldness lupus hair loss stress-related hair loss iron deficiency hair loss
TLDR The main causes of diffuse hair loss in women are telogen effluvium and androgenetic alopecia, often related to stress and iron deficiency.
In 2015, a hospital-based study was conducted on 500 women aged 20-60 years suffering from diffuse hair loss. The most common cause was found to be telogen effluvium (40%), followed by androgenetic alopecia (35.6%). Other causes included diffuse alopecia areata (9.2%), diffuse lupus erythematosus hair loss (5.6%), and others (9.6%). In a subset of 180 women, 64.44% had telogen effluvium, 15.55% had chronic telogen effluvium, 11.66% had female pattern hair loss, and 0.55% had anagen effluvium. Psychological stress and iron deficiency anemia were common underlying factors for telogen effluvium. For female pattern hair loss, low hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels were observed. Most cases of chronic telogen effluvium were idiopathic. The study concluded that diffuse hair loss is multifactorial and can be diagnosed with a history, examination of the shed hair-bulbs, and a few simple screening laboratory tests.
