Do high BMI and Severe Androgenetic Alopecia go Hand in Hand? – A Cross-Sectional Study

Context: Obesity is a risk factor for multiple health problems but its association with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) remains controversial. Aims: To determine the presence of association between body mass index (BMI) and age of onset and severity of alopecia in men with AGA. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the period of July 2014 to December 2014. 150 patients diagnosed with AGA were included in the study. The alopecia was diagnosed on based of clinical and dermoscopic evaluation and necessary laboratory investigations as and when required to rule out other causes of alopecia. The BMI of the patients was calculated by recording height in cm and weight in Kg. Family history of AGA was obtained. Statistical analysis used: This study investigated the relationship between AGA and BMI. Student t test was used for the analysis of continuous variables and Chi-square (x 2 ) test was used for the analysis of binary variables. A p value less than 0.005 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: In all, 150 men were enrolled with a mean age at initial clinical evaluation was 31.50 years (range 18-51 years), the mean duration of AGA was 7.6 years ( range 6 months to 24 years), the mean BMI was 26.05 Kg/m 2 (range 20-35 kg/m 2 ). In all, 26 (17.3%) subjects were obese and 106 (70.6%) patients were overweight.94 (62.6%) of patients had Grade 3 or 4 AGA while 44 (29.2%) had grade 5 and above grade of AGA according to NorwoodHamilton scale. Out of the overweight or obese patients, 41.5% had severe alopecia while 58.5% did not have severe alopecia (p<0.000). Conclusions: Higher body mass index is associated with severe androgenetic alopecia in male pattern androgenetic alopecia (p <0.000 highly significant)