217 citations
,
July 2009 in “Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes” This study found that hair cortisol levels were significantly higher in patients with Cushing's Syndrome compared to healthy controls, suggesting hair analysis can provide historical information on cortisol exposure.
96 citations
,
September 2017 in “Analytica Chimica Acta” This review discusses the growing use of scalp hair for elemental analysis in various fields and highlights advancements in analysis techniques, including the future potential of laser ablation ICP-MS, but reports no new clinical results.
84 citations
,
February 2013 in “Clinica chimica acta” This review presents evidence that correlations exist between hair mineral imbalances and various diseases, though inconsistencies in results highlight the need for standardized preparation methods.
74 citations
,
March 2006 in “Journal of Chromatography B” This review discusses the use of hair analysis for detecting misuse of drugs in livestock, covering hair biology, drug incorporation, sampling methods, and analytical techniques, but reports no new findings.
71 citations
,
December 1987 in “Journal of animal science/Journal of animal science ... and ASAS reference compendium” This review highlights the challenges of using hair mineral analyses as precise indicators of mineral status due to various influencing factors, suggesting they may be informative when combined with other indicators.
67 citations
,
May 2013 in “Therapeutic drug monitoring” This study explores the complexities of interpreting single drug exposure in hair, emphasizing factors like drug distribution variability and suggests methods to validate single exposure findings in forensic cases.
65 citations
,
May 2006 in “Journal of Structural Biology” This study concluded that the curliness of human hair, regardless of ethnicity, originates from the inhomogeneous internal nanostructure due to differences in the distribution of two types of cortices.
60 citations
,
December 2005 in “Biomedical Papers” This article reviews hair analysis for drug detection and its applications in various fields, but reports no new research findings, emphasizing the need to consider the method's complexities and potential pitfalls.
34 citations
,
January 2016 in “Analytical Chemistry” This study reports that a new DART-HRMS method can effectively analyze intact hair for drug use timelines, with cocaine detection aligning with forensic standards and identifying multiple drugs from high-resolution data.
34 citations
,
March 2009 in “Journal of Investigative Dermatology” Proteomic analysis can identify genetic differences in mouse hair, helping understand hair defects and variations.
22 citations
,
February 2002 in “European Neuropsychopharmacology” The researchers found that using hair analysis to detect past use of cannabinoids or amphetamines in individuals with psychosis was limited by individual variations in hair growth rates, affecting the method's reliability.
15 citations
,
May 2013 in “American Journal of Medical Genetics - Part A” People with X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia have no sweat ducts and less, thinner hair.
11 citations
,
March 2023 in “Frontiers in Nutrition” This study found that a modest increase in dietary zinc over six months resulted in a detectable increase in sulfur and zinc counts in individual hairs, suggesting a non-invasive method to monitor zinc intake effects.
9 citations
,
September 2010 in “Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry” The woman likely died from acute arsenic poisoning, not chronic exposure.
9 citations
,
April 2025 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” This study found no consistent differences between the posterior vertex and occipital region for hair hormone analysis, but noted significant variations in specific hormone concentrations, highlighting the need for standardized sampling practices.
8 citations
,
March 2021 in “Drug testing and analysis” This study improved a hair analysis method to estimate the days of continuous ingestion of hay-fever medicines, with an average error of about 2 days from actual ingestion.
7 citations
,
January 2012 This study reported that in the California Ground Squirrel, certain elements bioaccumulate in hair, providing baseline data for environmental health assessments.
5 citations
,
December 2017 in “Atom Indonesia” This study found higher concentrations of chromium, lead, and arsenic in the hair of workshop workers and traffic officers compared to a control group, indicating occupational exposure to these metals. Mercury levels varied across exposed groups, suggesting additional lifestyle factors may influence metal accumulation.
5 citations
,
January 2012 This review covers the basic principles of forensic hair analysis, including how chemical substances get incorporated into hair, and emphasizes its applications in disease diagnosis, without providing new experimental results.
1 citations
,
December 2023 in “Environmental pollution” This study quantified around 60 organic pollutants in hair samples from mothers and infants in Spain, finding significant correlations between pollutant levels and factors like residence, dietary habits, and maternal age, with common exposure sources identified for several pollutant classes.
1 citations
,
July 2021 in “Forensic science international” This study found that segmental single hair analysis produced ocfentanil concentration profiles similar to those from hair lock analysis, supporting its use in cases with limited samples.
1 citations
,
September 1993 in “Addiction” This article discusses using hair analysis to monitor drug use but does not present new research findings.
1 citations
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February 1989 in “PubMed” In this study, human hair-carboxymethylated protein analysis showed that weathering for over 2.5 years can obscure electrophoretic patterns, while cosmetic treatments did not cause significant changes.
May 2026 in “British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology” In this study, researchers observed low variability in hair formoterol concentrations for COPD patients with stable adherence, but inter-patient differences and other factors may limit the effectiveness of hair analysis as a reliable tool for assessing medication adherence.
January 2025 in “Scientific Reports” This study explored 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels in hair samples from participants in Aberdeen and suggested potential links between hair vitamin D levels, seasonal UVB exposure, and marine diet in both modern and archaeological contexts.
July 2023 in “Drug testing and analysis (Print)” Homemade hair treatments can significantly lower drug levels in hair, possibly causing false-negative drug tests.
June 2014 in “Toxicologie analytique et clinique/Annales de toxicologie analytique” This review discusses the increasing importance of hair analysis in forensic toxicology and highlights the complexities in interpreting results due to external contamination and regional collection differences, but reports no new findings.
March 1983 in “The Journal of the American Dental Association” January 2026 in “Open Science Framework” This study examines various methodological factors affecting hair cortisol concentration analysis, finding inconsistent results on the impact of factors like resuspension solution, hair weight, extraction duration, and hair-cutting method.
September 2025 in “International Journal of Molecular Sciences” In this review, researchers explored hair as a promising tool for identifying biomarkers in schizophrenia, highlighting its potential for supporting personalized medicine through ease of sampling, though acknowledging challenges like individual variability and methodological inconsistencies.