Depression in women with hair loss in a referral clinic in Yazd, Iran: A cross-sectional study

Hair loss is a chronic and frequent dermatological condition. It negatively affects the psychological status, social relationships and daily activities of the patients The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalnce of depression in women with hair loss in a referral dematology clinic in Yazd, Iran.
This cross-sectional study was conducted from March 21 to June 21, 2015. Fifty-four women suffering from hair loss referred to the Shahid Sadoughi Dermatology Clinic in Yazd were recruited. Depression assessed by using the Beck Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed using versioin 18 of PASW (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and Fisher's exact test was used for comparing proportions in different groups.
The mean ± standard deviation score of depression was 16.1±13.5. The study showed that 67% of hair loss patients were experiencing depression. While not statitically significant, frequency of depression seems to be associated with the level of education (P=0.052). There was no associatioin between the frequency of depression and age, marital status, previous medical history, or drug use.
This study showed that depression is highly frequent among women with hair loss. Beauty is crucial for most women and feeling the lack of beauty and not being attractive decrease their social interaction. More effective treatment of hair loss may improve depression and community relations, and consequently result in higher quality of life in a hair loss patient.