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Vitamin D Deficiency in Alopecia Areata.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the mean Vitamin D level in patients with alopecia areata (AA) with age and gender controlled matched healthy controls.


STUDY DESIGN
Case-control study.


PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Dermatology OPD, JPMC, from October 2014 to March 2015.


METHODOLOGY
All the patients diagnosed of alopecia areata by a trained dermatologist were selected. Controls were age and gender matched healthy volunteers. Venous blood was drawn and sent to hospital laboratory for 25 (OH) vitamin D by enzyme immunoassay method on chemical analyser. Data was recorded on SPSS version 16. Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare vitamin D levels of cases and controls. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant.


RESULTS
There are 30 cases of AA, and 30 age and gender matched controls. The mean age of our study group was 23.77 ±8.86 ng/dL in patients and 24.03 ±8.62 ng/dL in the control group. Fifteen (50%) patients presented between 3-12 months of onset of AA. Median (IQR) vitamin D level of cases was 13.5 (18.6) ng/dL and healthy controls was 22.5 (16.25) (p=0.001).


CONCLUSION
Serum Vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients with alopecia areata compared to healthy controls.