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Associations between season, climate, and pediatric alopecia areata flares in Providence, Rhode Island

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Abstract

Patients with alopecia areata (AA) may experience episodic hair loss that follows seasonal patterns. To assess associations between seasonal variation, climate factors, and AA flare frequency in pediatric AA patients, we performed a retrospective chart review of 123 pediatric AA patients at Brown Dermatology (Providence, Rhode Island) who experienced hair loss between January 2017 and December 2019. We assessed association of seasonal variation with monthly occurrence of AA flares. We then assessed association between climate variables and monthly AA hair loss frequency using Spearman rank correlation analyses. We conducted stratified analyses in patients with and without history of atopy. The greatest proportion of hair loss episodes occurred in winter (28.1%), followed by autumn (26.3%), spring (23.8%), and summer (21.7%). We found significant correlations between AA hair loss frequency and air pressure (R = 0.61) and hours of sunlight (R = − 0.60). These correlations remained significant among patients with no history of atopic disease but were not significant among those with history of atopy. Limitations include small sample size. This regional analysis supports the role of climate in AA hair loss episodes through assessment of seasonal occurrences and identification of correlations between climate characteristics and AA flare frequency.

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Abbreviations

AA:

Alopecia areata

AU:

Alopecia universalis

AT:

Alopecia totalis

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Funding

National Alopecia Areata Foundation Student Internship Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 339 Eddy Street, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Helen Zhang, Erica M. Lin, Navya Baranwal & Rachel K. Lim

  2. Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Joseph Caravaglio, Abrar Qureshi & Eunyoung Cho

  3. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Abrar Qureshi & Eunyoung Cho

  4. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Eunyoung Cho

  5. Department of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA

    Elisabeth A. George-Washburn

Authors
  1. Helen Zhang
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  2. Elisabeth A. George-Washburn
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  3. Erica M. Lin
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  4. Navya Baranwal
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  5. Rachel K. Lim
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  6. Joseph Caravaglio
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  7. Abrar Qureshi
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  8. Eunyoung Cho
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Contributions

Conceptualization: EC, AQ; methodology: EC, AQ, JC; formal analysis: HZ; investigation: HZ, EAG, EC; data curation: EAG, EL, NB, RKL; writing—original draft: HZ, EAG; writing—review & editing: EL, NB, RKL, JC, AQ, EC; visualization: HZ; supervision: EC, AQ; project administration: EC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eunyoung Cho.

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The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

IRB approval status

This study has received IRB approval (Protocol No. 2011002850, 12/09/2020).

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Zhang, H., George-Washburn, E.A., Lin, E.M. et al. Associations between season, climate, and pediatric alopecia areata flares in Providence, Rhode Island. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 2877–2881 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02721-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02721-3

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