P#63  Scalp disease prevalence in Caucasians, African Americans and Chinese and the effects of shampoo frequency on scalp health

Janet Hickman1, Xuemin Wang2, Nia Nesmith and Caroline W. Cardin3. 1Education and Research, Lynchburg, Va.; 2Shanghai Skin Disease & STD Hospital, Shanghai, China;
3The Procter and Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio

A survey study was conducted in about 1,400 Caucasian, African American and Chinese males and females from Minnesota and Georgia, US; and Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, China. The objectives of this study were to ascertain the prevalence of scalp conditions and understand the relationship between various scalp conditions versus subjective perception and habits and practices in different ethnic populations and geographical locations in US and China. Subjects participating in the Minnesota were from the greater St. Paul and Minneapolis suburbs, while subjects participating in Georgia were from the suburbs of the greater Atlanta area. Subjects participating in the China study were from communes near Shanghai or Guangzhou and the air force base commune in Beijing. The US subjects met specific criteria for age and income distribution, while the Chinese subjects met only the criterion for age distribution. An overquota of African American females, teen females and males, and dandruff product users were recruited in each city to ensure that there was sufficient representation for comparison. Dandruff prevalence was highest in the African Americans (especially adult and teen females) in comparison to Caucasians and the Chinese. In addition, dandruff severity was highest in African Americans relative to the Caucasians and Chinese. These differences in dandruff severity and prevalence in the African Americans relative to Caucasians and Chinese are attributed in part to the low shampoo frequencies in the African Americans. Significant differences in the dandruff prevalence and severity were also observed between Shanghai versus Beijing and Guangzhou. These differences could be in part attributed to the low shampoo frequencies in Shanghai relative to Beijing and Guangzhou, especially for the antidandruff product user population. While the prevalence of seborrheic dermatitis was high in Caucasians, seborrheic dermatitis prevalence was low in African Americans and non-existent in the Chinese.