ObjectiveTo assess the quality of life, prevalence of depression and their influencing factors in patients with alopecia, to investigate, and to provide evidences for relevant clinical therapeutic strategies to improve patients' quality of life.

MethodsA questionnaire survey was carried out in 237 patients with androgenetic alopecia or alopecia areata, and their quality of life and depression were measured using dermatology life quality index (DLQI) and center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (CES-D) , respectively. Factors influencing the quality of life and depression were analyzed by analysis of variance and logistic regression analysis.

ResultsAmong 237 patients with alopecia, 218 questionnaires were eligible with the mean score of DLQI being 9.1 ± 5.4. Alopecia had a moderate effect on the quality of life in general, and 38.07% of the patients were severely affected. The mean score of CES-D was 14.8 ± 9.9, and 37.61% of the patients showed depressive tendency. The DLQI score was positively correlated with CES-D score ( r= 0.29, P < 0.01) . One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the DLQI score was not affected by age, gender, education level or the number of visits. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors for depressive tendency in patients with alopecia were the number of visits ( OR= 1.81, 95% CI: 1.21-2.69) and DLQI score ( OR= 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03-1.13) .

ConclusionAlopecia not only affects the quality of life, but also mental states of patients.