Epidemiology and Treatment Aspects of Hair Loss in India – A Cross-Sectional, Multicentre, Database Study (HAILO)

Aims: To evaluate the demography and treatment patterns for Indian patients with hair loss.

Study Design: An electronic medical record (EMR)-based, retrospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: EMR records between June 2018 and June 2021.

Methodology: Data of patients ≥12 years of age with reported hair loss secondary to any cause was included. Informed consent waiver was obtained from ethics committees as this is a non-experimental, retrospective data analysis study. Demographic and treatment details of patients sub-grouped based on type of hair loss were noted.

Results: Data of 24595 patients diagnosed with hair loss were evaluated. Telogen effluvium (TE) was the commonest reason for hair fall (40.70%), followed by female pattern hair loss (FPHL) (22.09%), alopecia areata (AA) (12.81%), and male pattern hair loss (MPHL) (7.49%). Majority cases were females (n=10794, 74.8%), with most belonging to 12-39 years’ age group (n=11734). Commonest comorbidity noted was acne (10.4%), followed by seborrheic dermatitis (3.0%). Overall, 1658 (12.31%) continued same treatment at follow-up, 956 (7.10%) patients had an add-on of new formulation, and 975 (7.24%) cases had a change of treatment. Overall, nutritional supplements were most adopted by physicians at baseline (n=6843), while pharmacological agents were the therapy of choice at follow-up (17.41%). For MPHL, FPHL and AA groups commonest treatment option at both baseline and follow-up was pharmacological agent; for TE group, commonest treatment option at baseline was nutritional supplements, and pharmacological therapy at follow-up. The most common class of therapy prescribed as a substituted agent at follow-up was nutritional supplements for all hair-loss subgroups.

Conclusion: Hair loss was caused by various causes, with TE and FPHL noted to be more common. Young to middle-aged females were noted to be most affected by hair loss. Though pharmacological agents remain the key choice for managing hair loss, substitution or addition of nutritional supplements was noted commonly at follow-up.