Does oxidative stress correlate with disease activity and severity in alopecia areata? An analytical study.

BACKGROUND Oxidative stress (OS) has been implicated as a contributory factor in the multifactorial etiopathogenesis of alopecia areata (AA). But with the existing data, it is unclear whether OS is a cause or effect of the disease state in Alopecia areata. AIMS To compare the OS parameters viz.malon-di-aldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant status (TAS) in serum of patients with alopecia areata versus age and sex matched controls, and assess their correlation with the severity of the disease. PATIENTS/METHODS Forty clinically diagnosed patients of alopecia areata and forty (n = 40) age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. ELISA was used for the evaluation of MDA, and spectrophotometric method was used to evaluate serum TAS and whole blood SOD. RESULTS Mean serum TAS and whole blood SOD levels of cases were significantly lower than controls (p = 0.005 and p = 0.002, respectively). Mean serum MDA level of patients was significantly higher compared to controls (p = 0.001). While levels of serum TAS and whole blood SOD were found to decrease from mild to severe grades of disease (p = 0.003, p < 0.001 respectively), levels of MDA increased with increasing disease severity (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The OS parameters were deranged in all subsets of AA, with the greatest derangement seen with whole blood SOD levels.