Patients with Alopecia Areata are At Increased Risk for Joint Disease

In 2023, Kincaid et al performed a case-control study to examine whether patients with alopecia areata were at increased risk for arthritis.

About 46,000 cases and 46,000 controls were compared. Data showed that patients with AA had a significantly higher risk (compared to controls) of developing:

psoriatic arthritis (OR = 2.344, P < .0001)

rheumatoid arthritis (OR = 2.09, P < .0001)

ankylosing spondylitis (OR = 1.68, P = .0021)

The mean age of these AA-arthritis subgroup cohorts at the time of data collection was 49.2, 52.1, and 44.3 years old, respectively. Patients with both AA and inflammatory arthritis were mainly female, with a large proportion being in the AA and rheumatoid arthritis subgroup.

Interestingly, alopecia areata was also found to be associated with the development of “other crystal arthropathies” (OR, 1.763; P < .0001; mean age, 67.3 years old) and “other inflammatory arthropathies” (OR, 1.631; P < .0001; mean age, 56.2 years old). However, the joint disease gout occurred at similar rates between the cohorts.

REFERENCE

Colin M Kincaid, Ajay N Sharma, Natasha A Mesinkovska. Alopecia areata is associated with risk of inflammatory arthritis. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2023 Aug;89(2):422-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2023.04.039. Epub 2023 Apr 28.