title: Quality of life in patients with alopecia areata: a hospital-based cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies suggest that alopecia areata (AA) may significantly affect patient quality of life (QoL). There are no studies that assess QoL in Serbian AA patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to assess the impact of AA on patients' QoL in comparison to patients affected by other skin diseases and to determine the impact of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of AA patients on QoL.
  
  
  METHODS
  A hospital-based cross-sectional study of 60 patients with AA was conducted at the Clinic of Dermatovenereology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade between April 2012 and June 2013. The severity of hair loss was assessed using the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT). Patients' self-assessment of QoL was measured by three self-administered questionnaires: The Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and The Skindex-29.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty AA patients (16 males and 44 females) with mean age of 37.35 ± 14.26 years completed the questionnaires. We confirmed that QoL of our AA patients was impaired. Compared with patients suffering from psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and onychomycosis AA patients presented significantly better QoL. Severity of disease (SALT) correlated only with personal relationship - dimension of DLQI (ρ = 0.29, P < 0.05) and social functioning - dimension of Skindex (ρ = 0.26, P < 0.05). No correlation was observed between severity of the disease and SF-36 subscales. AA patients with depression had significantly worse QoL in daily activities, leisure, work or school and personal relationships - DLQI dimensions, and emotions and social functioning - Skindex subscales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates that AA influences QoL, but to a lesser degree than observed for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and onychomycosis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janković
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Dermatovenereology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perić
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maksimović
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ćirković
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marinković
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Janković
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Dermatovenereology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Reljić
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Dermatovenereology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.|Department of Dermatovenereology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Medenica
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000506:Alopecia Areata / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life