Sex Differences in Age at Onset and Presentation of Trichotillomania and Trichobezoar: A 120-Year Systematic Review of Cases

Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) has high female preponderance. It has been suggested that onset in early childhood represents a distinct developmental subtype that is characterized by higher prevalence of males compared to later onset cases. However, the empirical literature is scarce. We c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child psychiatry and human development 2022-02, Vol.53 (1), p.165-171
Main Authors: Snorrason, Ivar, Ricketts, Emily J., Stein, Aliza T., Thamrin, Hardian, Lee, SoJeong J., Goldberg, Hannah, Hu, Yuan, Björgvinsson, Thröstur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age composition
Age differences
Age of Onset
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bezoars - epidemiology
Bezoars - etiology
Case reports
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Child and School Psychology
Child, Preschool
Children
Female
Gastrointestinal tract
Gender differences
Hair
Humans
Male
Males
Men
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Psychiatry
Psychology
Sex Characteristics
Sex differences
Systematic review
Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania - complications
Trichotillomania - diagnosis
Trichotillomania - epidemiology
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) has high female preponderance. It has been suggested that onset in early childhood represents a distinct developmental subtype that is characterized by higher prevalence of males compared to later onset cases. However, the empirical literature is scarce. We conducted a systematic review of case reports to examine the distribution of age at onset/presentation in males and females with trichotillomania or trichobezoar (a mass of hair in the gastrointestinal tract resulting from ingesting hair). We identified 1065 individuals with trichotillomania and 1248 with trichobezoar. In both samples, males, compared to females, had earlier age at presentation and greater proportion of cases in early childhood. These sex differences remained after potential confounding variables were accounted for. The results showed similar sex differences for age at onset, which was reported in 734 and 337 of the trichotillomania and trichobezoar cases, respectively. The findings may reflect neurodevelopmental underpinnings in early childhood trichotillomania.
ISSN:0009-398X
1573-3327
DOI:10.1007/s10578-020-01117-y