A Clinico-epidemiological Profile of Patients with Alopecia Areata: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: Alopecia areata is one of the common types of non-cicatricial alopecia. It is considered an autoimmune disorder and effects hair bearing areas like scalp, eyebrows and beard. It also carries psychological burden. This study aims to evaluate clinicoepidemiological profile of patients diagnosed with alopecia areata attending the dermatology outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary care center. Methods: After clearance from IRC of the hospital, a cross sectional study was conducted from January 1st 2025- June 30th 2025. Data on patient demographics (age, sex), clinical diagnosis, examination findings were collected in preformed proforma and entered in SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were used for analyses. Results: In our study 52 cases were diagnosed with alopecia areata during the study period, out of which 40 (76.93%) were males and 12 (23.07%) were females with male female ratio of 3.3:1. Majority of patients 24 (46.15%) were in 31-40 years age group followed by 12 (23.10%) cases in 21-30 years age group. Most of the cases 46 (88.46%) had no symptoms and the disease duration was predominnantly 43 (82.70%) less than 3 months. Scalp 42 (80.76%) was the most common site involved and patchy alopecia 43 (82.70%) was most common pattern seen. Nail changes were found in 11 (21.15%) of cases. Conclusion: In our study, Alopecia areata was more common in males, scalp predominant site involved and patchy hair loss the most common pattern observed.