Mirmirani Paradi, Tosti Antonella, Goldberg Lynne, Whiting David, Sotoodian Bahman
Department of Dermatology, The Permanente Medical Group, Vallejo, California, USA.
Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
Skin Appendage Disord. 2019 Feb;5(2):90-93. doi: 10.1159/000489793. Epub 2018 Jun 19.
Since the initial description of frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) in 1994, increasingly more cases of FFA have been reported in literature. Although clear epidemiologic data on the incidence and prevalence of FFA is not available, it is intriguing to consider whether FFA should be labeled as an emerging epidemic. A medline trend analysis as well as literature review using keywords "alopecia," "hair loss," and "cicatrical" were performed. Medline trend analysis of published FFA papers from 1905 to 2016 showed that the number of publications referenced in Medline increased from 1 (0.229%) in 1994 to 44 (3.5%) in 2016. The number of patients per published cohort also increased dramatically since the first report of FFA. Over the time period of January 2006-2016, our multi hair-referral centers collaboration study also showed a significant increase in new diagnoses of FFA. At this juncture, the cause for the rapid rise in cases is one of speculation. It is plausible that a cumulative environmental or toxic factor may trigger hair loss in FFA. Once perhaps a "rare type" of cicatricial alopecia, FFA is now being seen in a frequency in excess of what is expected, thus suggestive of an emerging epidemic.
自1994年首次描述额部纤维性秃发（FFA）以来，文献中报道的FFA病例越来越多。尽管尚无关于FFA发病率和患病率的确切流行病学数据，但思考FFA是否应被视为一种新出现的流行病很有意思。我们进行了一项Medline趋势分析，并使用关键词“脱发”“毛发脱落”和“瘢痕性”进行了文献综述。对1905年至2016年发表的FFA论文进行的Medline趋势分析表明，Medline中引用的论文数量从1994年的1篇（0.229%）增加到2016年的44篇（3.5%）。自FFA首次报道以来，每个已发表队列中的患者数量也急剧增加。在2006年1月至2016年期间，我们多个毛发转诊中心的合作研究也显示FFA的新诊断病例显著增加。此时此刻，病例数迅速上升的原因尚属推测。一种累积的环境或毒性因素可能引发FFA中的脱发，这似乎是合理的。FFA曾经可能是一种“罕见类型”的瘢痕性秃发，现在其出现频率超过预期，因此提示这是一种新出现的流行病。
