Serum Ferritin Levels in Non-Scarring Alopecia of Women: A Case-Control Study

January 2017 in “ Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatology ”

Muzamil Chisti, Qazi Masood, Iffat Hassan Shah, Dilshad Ahmed Khan, Imran Majid, Seema Qayoom, Samreen Shah

serum ferritin non-scarring alopecia alopecia areata androgenetic alopecia iron supplementation telogen effluvium iron deficiency iron supplements

TLDR Women with certain types of hair loss may have low iron levels, and iron supplements could help.

The study, conducted on 100 female patients with non-scarring alopecia and 100 matched controls, found a significant association between low serum ferritin levels and non-scarring alopecia in women, particularly in those with alopecia areata and androgenetic alopecia. Other iron status parameters were also significantly lower in patients, indicating an overall depleted iron status. The results suggest that iron supplementation could be beneficial for treatment response in these patients. However, no significant difference in serum ferritin levels was found in patients with telogen effluvium. The study highlights the potential role of iron deficiency in alopecia development and calls for further research with larger sample sizes to confirm these findings.

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Research cited in this study

14 / 14 results

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