Professional paper
Is There Connection Between Alopecia Areata and Zinc Deficiency?
Anđelina Miloloža
Jelena Vlahović
Maja Miškulin
Abstract
Zinc is the essential cofactor in number of enzymes and has a significant role in functional activities
of the hair follicles. Recent epidemiologic studies have shown that zinc deficiency is rather frequent among
alopecia areata patients. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of zinc deficiency among alopecia
areata patients and to evaluate this finding in relation to patient’s demographic data. This cross-sectional study
was conducted during January to July 2013 and included 50 alopecia areata patients (mean age 39.5±17.8 years,
22.0% males and 78.0% females) from Osijek-Baranja County. Demographic data were gathered and zinc serum
concentration for each patient was determined using spectrophotometric direct colorimetric method without
deproteinization. Within study group there were 50.0% of alopecia areata patients with confirmed zinc deficiency, while the rest of
the group had normal serum zinc values. The study has shown that zinc deficiency was more common in women
suffering from alopecia areata and also in patients belonging to the age groups 19-38 and 39-58 years. The study
implied possible positive connection between zinc deficiency and alopecia areata but further studies on a larger
number of patients are needed to better evaluate the finding of this study.
Keywords
alopecia areata; Croatia; zinc serum concentration
Hrčak ID:
139566
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2014.
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