Illness perception in patients with androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata in China.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to provide more information on the role of illness perception in patients with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and those with alopecia areata (AA), and to further investigate the relationship of illness perception with psychological disorders and dermatological QoL.

Methods: The study included 342 patients who were diagnosed with AGA (n=212) or AA (n=130) for the first time at our institution between October 2013 and December 2014. All patients were surveyed before clinical examination by several questionnaires including the Brief Illness Perception, Self-rating Depression Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale, and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).

Reliability and validity assessment of the revised Symptom Checklist 90 for alopecia areata patients in China.

No study has tested the reliability and validity of the revised Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90-R) for patients with alopecia areata (AA), and few have used it to evaluate the mental health of AA patients. To assess the psychological status in Chinese AA patients using the SCL-90-R, and to evaluate its reliability and validity, the psychological status of 168 patients and 100 controls was evaluated with the Chinese-version SCL-90-R. From this study, we found that The Global Severity Index and nine subscale scores on the SCL-90-R were significantly higher in AA patients than that in the controls.