Epidemiology of Alopecia Areata in Hispanic/Latinx Patients

The study "Epidemiology of alopecia areata in Hispanic/Latinx patients" retrospectively analyzed 197 Hispanic/Latinx patients diagnosed with alopecia areata (AA) at the University of California, Irvine from 2015 to 2022. The patients, 62.9% of whom were female, had an average age at diagnosis of 33 years. The most common form of AA was patchy (79.2%), with rare cases of alopecia totalis (3.6%) and alopecia universalis (6.1%). The most common comorbidity was atopy (24.4%), including allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. Other comorbidities included Vitamin D deficiency (21.8%), hyperlipidemia (19.8%), obesity (17.8%), gastroesophageal reflux disease (16.2%), and anemia (12.2%). Psychiatric comorbidities were identified in 14.2% of patients. The study found that the most common autoimmune comorbidity in Hispanic/Latinx patients with AA was rheumatoid arthritis, which differs from the most common autoimmune comorbidity in Black patients and overall patients with AA, which is thyroid disease.