AUTHOR=Kim Jeehyun , Hong Kwan , Gómez Gómez Raquel Elizabeth , Kim Soojin , Chun Byung Chul 

TITLE=Lack of Evidence of COVID-19 Being a Risk Factor of Alopecia Areata: Results of a National Cohort Study in South Korea

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.758069

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.758069

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Concerns about alopecia areata (AA) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have emerged among dermatologists. However, most of the extant kinds of literature have limited implications by relying on cross-sectional studies with restricted study subjects without the control group.</p><p><bold>Objective:</bold> Our study aims to investigate the risk of developing AA among COVID-19 patients in South Korea using national representative data.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We used the National Health Insurance Service COVID-19 cohort database, comprising COVID-19 patients and the control group, all of whom were diagnosed from January 1, 2020, to June 4, 2020. Patients were defined as individuals who were confirmed as COVID-19 positive, regardless of disease severity. Controls were defined as those who were confirmed as COVID-19 negatives. People with a history of AA during the period 2015–2019 were excluded. The primary endpoint was a new diagnosis of AA (ICD-10-Code: L63). The adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of developing AA was estimated using a log-link Poisson regression model based on incidence density. The model adjusted for (1) age and sex and (2) demographic variables (age, sex, place of residence, and income level).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> A total of 226,737 individuals (7,958 [3.5%] cases and 218,779 [96.5%] controls) were included in the final analysis. The ratio of newly diagnosed AA was 18/7,958 (0.2%) in cases and 195/218,779 (0.1%) in controls. IRRs of COVID-19 patients having newly diagnosed AA compared to controls were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.48–1.27) when age and sex were adjusted for and 0.60 (95% CI: 0.35–1.03) when all demographic variables were adjusted for.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Diagnosis of COVID-19 was not significantly associated with the development of AA even after appropriately adjusting for covariates.</p>