FRIDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Although past research has suggested a correlation between iron deficiency (ID) and female pattern hair loss (FPHL) or chronic telogen effluvium (CTE), a recent population-based study published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology finds no such association.
Elise A. Olsen, M.D., of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues assessed 381 women with FPHL or CTE and 76 controls to see what, if any, role ID plays in the two conditions.
The researchers used different definitions of ID -- ferritin less than or equal to 15 µg/L or less than or equal to 40 µg/L -- and found no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of ID among premenopausal or postmenopausal women with FPHL or CTE and the control subjects.
"Clearly, although we have shown no difference in the prevalence of ID between women with or without hair loss, there remains the need for more definitive studies that evaluate whether correction of ID in women with hair loss actually affects hair growth; and for that, a carefully controlled, placebo-, age-, and menstrual status-matched study of sufficient numbers using a standardized definition of ID needs to be performed," the authors write.
Pfizer provided an unrestricted educational grant for the study.
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