Association between androgenetic alopecia and psychological well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a prevalent chronic condition with health burden, yet its association with psychological well-being remains inconsistent. This study systematically examines differences in psychological well-being between AGA patients and non-AGA controls, focusing on symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression, stress, and other psychological issues. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across 7 databases (CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, EMBASE, EBSCO series) from their inception to June 30, 2025. A total of 13 studies were included, comprising 2,737 AGA patients and 17,382 controls. Study quality was assessed using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) tool for cross-sectional studies and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for case-control studies. Effect sizes were pooled using a random-effects model, supplemented by sensitivity analysis and publication bias assessment to ensure the robustness of the results. Results: Compared to non-AGA controls, AGA patients demonstrated significantly higher levels of generalized anxiety symptoms (pooled SMD = -0.50, 95% CI [-0.99, 0.00], p = 0.05), social anxiety symptoms (pooled SMD = -0.50, 95% CI [-0.84,-0.16], p = 0.004), depression symptoms (pooled SMD = -0.38, 95% CI [-0.65,-0.12], p = 0.004), and perceived stress (pooled SMD = -1.09, 95% CI [-1.43,-0.74], p < 0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in general distress (pooled SMD = -0.01, 95% CI [-0.39,0.37], p = 0.97). Qualitatively, AGA patients also exhibited reduced self-esteem, life satisfaction, and emotional intelligence dimensions, along with greater body image dissatisfaction, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and psychoticism. Conclusion: AGA patients experience increased levels of symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression, stress, body image dissatisfaction, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and psychoticism, as well as decreased self-esteem, life satisfaction, emotional intelligence, self-actualization, problem-solving ability, optimism, and happiness. In the future, clinical treatment should focus on patient psychological well-being through assessments and timely interventions, and further research should be conducted to provide precise clinical guidance. Systematic Review Registration: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/], identifier [CRD420250655604].
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.012 | 0.033 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.018 | 0.033 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.007 | 0.007 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".