Determinants of Marginal Traction Alopecia in African Girls and Women

    September 2008 in “ Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology ”
    Nonhlanhla P. Khumalo, S. Jessop, Freedom Gumedze, Rodney Ehrlich
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    TLDR Traction alopecia is more common in African women than girls, especially when traction is applied to chemically relaxed hair; avoiding such hairstyles may reduce the risk.
    In a study from 2008, traction alopecia (TA) was found to have a prevalence of 17.1% in African schoolgirls aged 6-21 years and 31.7% in African women aged 18-86 years. The study, which included 574 schoolgirls and 604 women, used clinical assessment and a Marginal TA Severity score to diagnose and assess the severity of TA. The results indicated that adults had a higher odds ratio for TA than children under 18 years (1.87), with the highest risk associated with traction added to relaxed hair (odds ratio 3.47). The severity of TA was linked to age, current hairstyle, and hairdressing symptoms, with only 18.9% of TA patients having never experienced hairdressing-related symptoms. The study highlighted the need for further research with larger sample sizes and more participants with severe disease, suggesting that reducing hairdressing symptoms and avoiding traction, particularly on chemically processed hair, may lower the risk of developing TA.
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