ISSN: 2167-0951
Safa Patrick*, Sumit Kar, Komal Ramteke, Subhor Nandwani
Introduction: Androgenetic alopecia also known as male pattern baldness is progressive hair loss characterized by follicular miniaturization in a patterned hair loss occurring due to systemic androgen and genetic factors. AGA has tremendous psychological impact on patients, irrespective of age or the stage of baldness. Androgenetic alopecia in men has been associated with several other medical conditions including coronary heart disease and benign as well as malignant enlargement of prostate, conditions causing insulin resistance such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
Materials and methods: The study was conducted in the outpatient department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy in a rural tertiary care hospital of central India for a period of 2 years. 103 clinically diagnosed cases of AGA with age and sex matched controls were subjected to detailed history taking and clinical examination as per prepared questionnaire. In clinical examination BMI, waist circumference and blood pressure was measured and blood investigations included fasting blood glucose, hypertriglyceridemia and HDL cholesterol.
Results: We found a statistically significant difference in prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) in cases and controls. The prevalence was found to be 21.4% in AGA cases whereas only 1% in controls. We did not find a significant association of severity of AGA with metabolic syndrome. MS was found in 12.62% cases with mildmoderate AGA where as 8.74 % with severe AGA. Risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome like raised BMI was not significantly associated with AGA whereas raised WC was significantly associated with AGA as well as with mild moderate type of AGA. Raised BMI was found in 15.5% of cases whereas WC was raised in 29.1% of cases. AGA was significantly associated with dyslipidaemia. Factors like decreased HDL and raised TG were significantly associated with AGA. HTN (both systolic and diastolic) was not significantly associated with AGA but when we compared cases of AGA with MS both SBP and DBP was found to be significantly raised in mild moderate AGA. Deranged FBS is not associated with AGA.
Conclusion: We conclude that Androgenic Alopecia (AGA) is associated with Metabolic Syndrome (MS). We also conclude that AGA is also associated with individual parameters of MS