Body circumference dimensions in Ukrainian men with alopecia areata

Abstract

Alopecia areata is a chronic autoimmune disease accompanied by focal hair loss and is often associated with a number of somatic and endocrine disorders. In modern studies, more and more attention is paid to the anthropometric character-istics of patients as potential markers of risk for the development of dermatological pathology. Of particular scientific value is the analysis of body circumferences, which can reflect the general metabolic and hormonal status of men suffering from alopecia. The identification of such features allows us to expand our understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease and contribute to the improvement of a personalized approach to its diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the study is to establish the features of body circumference dimensions in young Ukrainian men with alopecia areata. A clinical, instrumental and anthropological (deter-mination of body circumference dimensions) examination was performed on 81 young Ukrainian men with alopecia areata. The severity of alopecia areata was determined according to the recommendations of Shutsky I. V. The body circumference dimen-sions of 82 practically healthy Ukrainian men of similar age, who were taken from the data bank of the National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya, served as a control. The results were statistically processed in the licensed package «Statistica 6.0» using non-parametric evaluation methods. In Ukrainian men with alopecia areata in general, of the I, II and III degrees (most pronounced) of severity compared to practically healthy men, in most cases, significantly higher values of the upper limb circumfer-ences (by 3.04-9.58 %, with the exception of patients with I degree of severity), lower limb (by 3.07-10.88 %, with the exception of the hip circumference in patients in general, I and III degrees of severity), and trunk (by 2.59-16.39 %) were established. Between groups of patients with alopecia areata with different degrees of severity of the disease in men, trends towards lower values (by 2.39-5.69 %) of the shoulder circumferences in a tense state, forearm in the upper part, hand compared to patients with III degree of severity and forearm in the lower part and hand compared to patients with II degree of severity, as well as trends towards larger values (by 2.65-5.10 %) of hip and chest circumferences during inspiration, expiration, and at rest compared to patients with stage I severity, and hip circumferences compared to patients with stage II severity.