Severity of androgenetic alopecia associated with poor sleeping habits and carnivorous eating and junk food consumption-A web-based investigation of male pattern hair loss in China

摘要

Dear Editor, With the increasing prevalence of androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and decreasing age of onset, nongenetic factors, such as body concentration of heavy metals and smoking have been studied and proven to contribute to AGA (Wang et al., 2010). We hypothesized that working styles, work-related stress and sleep habits also be possible contributors to the severity of AGA. So far, little is known on the association of lifestyle factors with the severity of AGA, especially among young male pattern hair loss (MPHL) group in the Chinese context. This study seeks to test our hypothesis and investigate the association between dietary factors such as meat and vegetable consumption, junk food and alcohol intake, and other factors including stress, sleep habits, smoking, and scalp health and the severity of MPHL. A web-based cross-sectional survey was performed with a structured questionnaire from September 2018 to January 2019. The severity of MPHL was graded according to Hamilton-Norwood classification. Table 1 summarized the factors associated with the severity of AGA using an ordinal logistic regression analysis, After adjusting the age factor, and we found that age group between 30 and 40, married marital status, poor sleep habits, carnivorous eating (OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.45), consumption of junk food (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.39, 1.90), heavy physical labor (OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.79, 2.65) are factors which increase the odds of having a more severe type of AGA, while sugary drinks decrease the odds, indicating a possible protective factor. In previous studies, overweight and smoking were found to increase the likelihood of being AGA (Dharam Kumar, Kishan Kumar, & Neladimmanahally, 2018; Fortes, Mastroeni, Mannooranparampil, & Ribuffo, 2017; Kim, Choe, Chung, Oh, & Lee, 2018) while in this study, carnivorous eating and the intake of junk food proved to be significantly related to the severity of AGA. Meanwhile, we found out that sugary drinks may be a protective factor to AGA, which coincided with a study in Taiwan which showed that soy bean drink consumption may provide protect effects against AGA (Lai et al., 2013).