Frequency of Hyperprolactinemia in Patients with Alopecia Areata

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of hyperprolactinemia in patients with alopecia areata (AA).

Methodology: This Cross sectional descriptive study was carried out at Department of Dermatology, Liaquat University Hospital, from June 2020 to March 2020. There were 201 patients of alopecia areata for > 1 year duration of either gender were included. Following a clinical evaluation, individuals diagnosed with alopecia areata underwent further assessment of serum prolactin levels. A 2 cc venous blood sample was collected from each participant under sterile conditions and sent to the hospital laboratory for analysis. The serum prolactin level ? 20 µg/L was considered as hyperprolactinemia. The data was collected on pre-designed proforma

Results: The average age of the patients was 42.37±10.42 years. There were 111(55.22%) males and 90(44.78%) females. Frequency of hyperprolactinemia in patients with alopecia areata was 70.15%. The frequency of hyperprolactinemia was statistically insignificant based on age, gender, diabetes, hypertension and obesity (p=>0.05).

Conclusion: Increased prolactin levels were observed to be highly frequent among patients with alopecia areata, suggesting that it may contribute to autoimmune mechanisms and serve as a biomarker for disease severity, while  due to inconsistencies in existing research, further studies are needed to clarify its clinical significance and potential role in treatment.