Scalp Hair Metabolomics in Severe Obesity

February 11, 2026 updated by: Singapore General Hospital

Scalp Hair Metabolomics as a Novel Biomarker of Poor Metabolic Health in Individuals With Severe Obesity

The purpose of this research study is to investigate how body weight and weight-loss surgery affect the natural chemicals found in scalp hair over time. We will also find out how common and severe hair thinning/hair loss and muscle loss are in the first 6 months after bariatric surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Detailed Description

The investigators will recruit 30 subjects with severe obesity scheduled for bariatric surgery and 30 healthy-weight controls.

Following written informed consent, the investigators will collect the study subject's medical information, conduct a dietary and quality-of-life survey, take body measurements, obtain scalp photos, perform a hair-pull test, collect a hair sample, and conduct muscle strength testing. Controls will be assessed only at baseline. Those with severe obesity will return at 4 ± 2 weeks, 12 ± 4 weeks, and 26 ± 4 weeks following bariatric surgery to repeat the study procedures.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Subjects with severe obesity will be recruited from the Singapore General Hospital's obesity clinic, while controls will be healthy volunteers.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

All subjects:

  1. Age 21-70 years
  2. Ability to provide informed consent

Healthy weight controls:

  1. BMI of 18.5-24.9 kg/m2
  2. No chronic disease
  3. No long-term medications

Severe obesity:

  1. BMI of > 32.5 kg/m2
  2. Scheduled to undergo bariatric surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Pregnancy
  2. Any factors likely to limit adherence to study protocol
  3. Any history of autoimmune or scarring alopecia (eg. alopecia areata, discoid lupus, lichen planopilaris)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Healthy controls
Healthy controls with normal weight
Severe obestiy
Participants with Severe obesity

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Amino acid concentration
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of study duration at 6 months
Post-surgery changes in scalp hair amino acid concentration following bariatric surgery
From enrollment to the end of study duration at 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Severity of hair loss
Time Frame: From the time of enrolment until the end of the study at 6 months
The severity of hair loss is measured by quantifying the number of hairs lost during the hair pull test
From the time of enrolment until the end of the study at 6 months
Scalp hair amino acid concentration (between groups)
Time Frame: At the time of enrollment
Differences in scalp hair amino acid concentration between controls and those with severe obesity
At the time of enrollment
Grip strength
Time Frame: From enrollment until the end of the study at 6 months
The post-surgery changes in grip strength measured using handgrip dynamometer
From enrollment until the end of the study at 6 months
Sit to stand speed
Time Frame: From enrollment until study completion at 6 months
Time taken to complete sit to stand test after bariatric surgery
From enrollment until study completion at 6 months
Hair-specific Skindex-29 score
Time Frame: From enrollment until study completion at 6 months
Hair-specific Skindex-29 quality of life questionnaire score after bariatric surgery. scores ranging from 0 (no effect) to 100 (effect always experienced)
From enrollment until study completion at 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Singapore General Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hong Chang Tan, Singapore General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 7, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 20, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 11, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SGH_Hair01_2025

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

All IPD that underlie results in a publication

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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