The prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with alopecia areata

Abstract

Background: Alopecia areata is a chronic inflammatory disorder that causes nonscarring hair loss. The cause is unknown, but an interaction between autoimmune and psychological factors may trigger the disease. Sleep deprivation is associated with a variety of adverse consequences including the effects on both psychological and physical health. Sleep deprivation can adversely affect immune function and exacerbate autoimmunity. Poor sleep quality is also associated with stress. Methods: A case control study was conducted on 92 patients divided into two groups of 46, those diagnosed with alopecia areata and a healthy population. The demographic information of both groups was gathered with a questionnaire and the sleep quality was evaluated using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a self-rated questionnaire that assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month time interval. SPSS16 was used to analyze the data. P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Findings: 45.7 of patients with alopecia areata and 21.7 of the control group had sleep disorders. The difference between these percentages was significant (P < 0.05). There was not any significant difference in the scores of PSQI between the two groups (mean score = 5.37 and 4.04 in alopecia areata and control groups, respectively). The mean night sleep hours in patients with alopecia areata (6.73 hours) was significantly lower than the normal population (7.76 hours). Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the poor sleep quality is more common among patients with alopecia areata compared to the normal population; but the difference of the severity of sleep disturbances between the two groups was not statistically significant. © 2016, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.