A Study of Serum Ferritin Level in Female Patients with Alopecia
July 2018
in “
Journal of College of Medical Sciences-nepal
”
serum ferritin chronic diffuse hair loss alopecia areata androgenetic alopecia total body iron stores hemoglobin hematocrit mean corpuscular hemoglobin telogen effluvium iron stores red blood cell indices zinc selenium copper vitamin D iron levels hair loss iron deficiency blood iron iron deficiency anemia
TLDR Women with certain types of hair loss may have low iron levels.
The study, conducted on 120 female participants, found a significant association between low serum ferritin levels and chronic diffuse hair loss, specifically in cases of alopecia areata and androgenetic alopecia. The research indicated that these types of hair loss are closely linked to total body iron stores, as evidenced by lower mean serum ferritin, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin levels in patients compared to controls. While no significant difference was found in serum ferritin levels in patients with telogen effluvium, the study suggests that assessing iron stores and red blood cell indices could be beneficial in managing alopecia in premenopausal women. The study recommended that women with hair loss should be evaluated for these parameters, although it acknowledged the limitation of not including other micronutrients like zinc, selenium, copper, and vitamin D in the analysis, which are also known to affect hair health.
