Life events and alopecia areata.

48 patients with alopecia areata, 30 with common baldness, 30 with fungal infections underwent the Paykel's Interview for recent life events. In the 6 months preceding onset, alopecic patients reported 123 events (mean = 2.56), patients with common baldness 22 events (mean = 0.73), patients with fungal infections 15 (mean = 0.50) (p less than 0.001). Events with negative impact, exits from social fields, uncontrolled events and socially desirable and undesirable events were significantly more frequent in alopecic patients than in controls.