Impact on Quality of Life among Females with Diffuse Hair Loss at a Tertiary Care Centre: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: There is an important link between hair and identity, especially for women. Although, hair loss is a benign problem, experience of alopecia or hair loss is psychologically damaging, causing intense emotional suffering and personal, social and work related problems. Aim: To assess the impact of diffuse hair loss on the Quality of Life (QoL) among females with the help of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based cross- sectional study conducted over a period of one year from February 2019 to February 2020. All female patients more than 18 years with complaints of diffuse hair loss attending the Dermatology Outpatient Department (OPD) of Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda Variyar Medical College and Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India, were recruited and QoL was assessed in them using the DLQI scale. For statistical analysis, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to compare quantitative variables, while Fisher’s-exact test was used to analyse qualitative data. Post- hoc ANOVA was used to test the statistical significance within the groups and a p-value