Hair loss severity and its impact on quality of life in patients suffering from androgenic alopecia: A one-year cross-sectional study

Background: Androgenic alopecia (AGA) is a common form of nonscarring alopecia encountered in daily dermatology practice. Both apparent and imperceptible AGA has a significant impact on an individual's personality, where physical appearance plays an important role in the probable prospects for marriage as well as other social aspects. Hair loss, thus, can severely hamper them for both men and women with clinical severity of alopecia not necessarily correlating with the quality of life (QoL) of the patient. Objectives: The objective is to assess the QoL in patients with AGA attending a tertiary care hospital in western India and compare QoL with hair loss severity (HLS), rated by both dermatologist and patient. Materials and Methods: One hundred and four patients, clinically diagnosed with AGA, consenting for the study over a period of 1 year were included. Demographic data of the patients were recorded. QoL was assessed using skindex-16 questionnaire; HLS was assessed through self-administered questionnaires completed by patients and dermatologists. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Kendall's tau correlation coefficients, and Chi-square test. Results: The mean global score of Skindex–16 was 45.75 ± 16.90, with highest scores from emotions (64.93 ± 23.26). A positive correlation was found between the patients' HLS rating (r = 0.33, P