Background: Decreased serum levels of adiponectin is associated with chronic inflammation of metabolic disorders. This study aimed to clarify the possible participation of adiponectin in the pathogenesis of AA.

Subjects and methods: This case-control study has been conducted in the Dermatology, Venereology and Andrology Department at Zagazig University Hospitals. It included 48 participants, 24 AA patients and 24 apparently healthy control subjects of matched age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Serum adiponectin level was measured from each subject using quantitative ELISA kits.

Results: We revealed that serum adiponectin was slightly lower in-patient group but no significant difference was found between the alopecia group and the control group regarding serum adiponectin (p=.563) or HbA1c (p=.403). While serum adiponectin had no correlation with Hb A1c in the alopecia group (r=.190, p=.375), it had a significantly positive correlation with Hb A1c in the control group (r=.411, p=.046). Serum adiponectin showed a significantly strong negative correlation with the SALT score and the mean size of patches (r=-.602, p=.002) and (r=-.650, p=.001) respectively. A cut-off of 302.06 ng/ml of serum adiponectin for prediction of AA had 50% sensitivity, 50% specificity, 50% positive predictive value (PPV), 50% negative predictive value (NPV), 1.00 positive likelihood ratio (+LR), and 1.00 negative likely hood ratio (-LR).

Conclusion: Adiponectin may be involved in part in the pathogenesis of AA. The strong negative correlation between serum adiponectin level and SALT score suggests that adiponectin serum concentration can be considered a severity marker of hair loss in AA