TLDR The Alopecia Areata Assessment Tool (ALTO) effectively identifies alopecia areata from other hair loss types but needs more validation.
In 2018, a study involving 239 patients—59 with alopecia areata (AA) and 180 with other types of hair loss—developed the Alopecia Areata Assessment Tool (ALTO), an 8-question, self-administered questionnaire for identifying AA. The ALTO was created using the Delphi method by dermatologists and tested with nine scoring algorithms. The results indicated that algorithm 5 had the highest sensitivity at 89.8%, while algorithm 3 had the highest specificity at 97.8%. The study concluded that ALTO is an effective tool for distinguishing AA from other types of hair loss and may be useful for large population screenings. Despite its effectiveness, the study noted limitations such as potential spectrum bias and the need for further validation.
44 citations,
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