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

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. Neurodevelopmental dysfunction is thought to be associated with male sex, rather than male gender, we therefore mostly use the term sex in the article.

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Author notes

  1. Ivar Snorrason

    Present address: OCD & Related Disorders Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA

    Ivar Snorrason, Yuan Hu & Thröstur Björgvinsson

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ivar Snorrason

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Emily J. Ricketts, SoJeong J. Lee & Hannah Goldberg

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Aliza T. Stein

  5. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Hardian Thamrin

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  1. Ivar Snorrason
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  2. Emily J. Ricketts
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  3. Aliza T. Stein
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  7. Yuan Hu
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  8. Thröstur Björgvinsson
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Correspondence to Ivar Snorrason.

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Snorrason, I., Ricketts, E.J., Stein, A.T. et al. Sex Differences in Age at Onset and Presentation of Trichotillomania and Trichobezoar: A 120-Year Systematic Review of Cases. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 53, 165–171 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01117-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01117-y

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