Lower serum vitamin D and zinc levels may be considered risk factors for alopecia areata, new findings suggest, suggesting that their measurement can serve as an indicator for alopecia risk and disease severity.1
These findings resulted from new research conducted for the purposes of making a thorough and systematic evaluation of any connections between alopecia areata and serum trace element levels.
Ruiying Wu, from the school of clinical medicine at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, led a team of investigators in this analysis. Wu et al. noted that only 1 other study had used a meta-analysis to examine the link between serum trace elements and patients’ alopecia areata risk, though they added that this analysis had not looked into vitamin D.2
“At the same time, the publication of numerous new clinical studies…