{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T09:56:52Z","timestamp":1790848612758,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,13]],"date-time":"2021-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1634083200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> Concerns about alopecia areata (AA) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have emerged among dermatologists. However, most of the extant kinds of literature have limited implications by relying on cross-sectional studies with restricted study subjects without the control group.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Objective:<\/jats:bold> Our study aims to investigate the risk of developing AA among COVID-19 patients in South Korea using national representative data.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> We used the National Health Insurance Service COVID-19 cohort database, comprising COVID-19 patients and the control group, all of whom were diagnosed from January 1, 2020, to June 4, 2020. Patients were defined as individuals who were confirmed as COVID-19 positive, regardless of disease severity. Controls were defined as those who were confirmed as COVID-19 negatives. People with a history of AA during the period 2015\u20132019 were excluded. The primary endpoint was a new diagnosis of AA (ICD-10-Code: L63). The adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of developing AA was estimated using a log-link Poisson regression model based on incidence density. The model adjusted for (1) age and sex and (2) demographic variables (age, sex, place of residence, and income level).<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> A total of 226,737 individuals (7,958 [3.5%] cases and 218,779 [96.5%] controls) were included in the final analysis. The ratio of newly diagnosed AA was 18\/7,958 (0.2%) in cases and 195\/218,779 (0.1%) in controls. IRRs of COVID-19 patients having newly diagnosed AA compared to controls were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.48\u20131.27) when age and sex were adjusted for and 0.60 (95% CI: 0.35\u20131.03) when all demographic variables were adjusted for.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusion:<\/jats:bold> Diagnosis of COVID-19 was not significantly associated with the development of AA even after appropriately adjusting for covariates.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2021.758069","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,13]],"date-time":"2021-10-13T18:21:52Z","timestamp":1634149312000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Lack of Evidence of COVID-19 Being a Risk Factor of Alopecia Areata: Results of a National Cohort Study in South 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