Beyond health-related quality of life: initial psychometric validation of a new scale for addressing the gap in assessing the full range of alopecia areata psychosocial burden.

Background: Patients with alopecia areata (AA) report a broad range of psychosocial outcomes beyond those assessed in existing health-related quality of life measures. Yet, to date, no psychometrically validated scale based on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) appears to exist to comprehensively measure these AA-specific psychosocial outcomes.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop such a scale, the Scale of Alopecia Areata Distress (SAAD), and to provide its initial validation evidence.