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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1479337
This article is part of the Research Topic Vitamin D: From Pathophysiology to Clinical Impact Volume II View all 16 articles

Vitamin D Deficiency in Non-scarring and Scarring Alopecias: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Tanat Yongpisarn Tanat Yongpisarn 1Kasama Tejapira Kasama Tejapira 1Kunlawat Thadanipon Kunlawat Thadanipon 1,2Poonkiat Suchonwanit Poonkiat Suchonwanit 1*
  • 1 Division of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 2 Section for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Numerous studies have linked vitamin D deficiency (VDD) to the pathogenesis of various alopecia disorders.Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether patients with alopecia are more likely to have VDD or lower vitamin D levels than controls, and the prevalence of VDD among patients with certain alopecia disorders. Methods: Electronic searches were conducted using PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases from the dates of their inception until September 2024. Studies that reported data allowing for the calculation of odds ratios, mean differences, or correlation coefficients related to vitamin D levels and alopecia were included, while studies without a confirmed diagnosis of alopecia or those involving patients taking vitamin D supplements were excluded. Results: It was found that 51.94% of patients with alopecia areata (AA), 50.38% of patients with female pattern hair loss (FPHL), 47.38% of patients with male androgenic alopecia (MAGA), 53.51% of patients with telogen effluvium (TE), and 38.85% of patients with primary scarring alopecia had VDD. Compared to controls, AA patients had a pooled odds ratio (OR) of VDD of 2.84 (95% confidence interval: 1.89-4.26, I 2 = 84.29%, p<0.01) and a pooled unstandardized mean difference (UMD) of vitamin D levels of -8.20 (-10.28--6.12, I 2 =74.25%, p<0.01) ng/mL. For FPHL patients, a pooled OR of VDD of 5.24 (1.50-18.33, I 2 =81.65%, p<0.01) and a pooled UMD of vitamin D levels of -15.67 (-24.55--6.79, I 2 =91.60%, p<0.01) ng/mL were found. However, for MAGA, a pooled VDD OR of 4.42 (0.53-36.61, I 2 =88.40%, p<0.01), and a pooled UMD of vitamin D levels of -2.19 ng/mL (-4.07--0.31 ng/mL, I 2 =7.64%, p=0.37) were found. For TE patients, pooled UMD of vitamin D levels of -5.71 (-10.10--1.32) ng/mL were found. Conclusions: People with alopecia frequently have VDD; however, only in patients with AA or FPHL was the association of VDD and decreased vitamin D levels statistically significant compared to control. The findings indicate screening for vitamin D could benefit patients with AA or FPHL, potentially addressing vitamin D deficiency. Further study on vitamin D supplementation as a treatment for alopecia is recommended.

    Keywords: Vitamin D insufficiency, Vitamin D level, Hair loss, Non-cicatricial alopecia, cicatricial alopecia 'non-scarring alopecia, ' and 'scarring alopecia.'

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yongpisarn, Tejapira, Thadanipon and Suchonwanit. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Poonkiat Suchonwanit, Division of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

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