Disease Burden, Clinical Management, and Unmet Treatment Need of Patients With Moderate to Severe Alopecia Areata: Consensus Statements, Insights, and Practices From CERTAAE Delphi Panel

April 2024 in “ Frontiers in medicine ”

Lidia Rudnicka, Magdalena Trzeciak, Erkan Alpsoy, Petr Arenberger, Sibel Alper, Nina Benáková, Svetlana Bobko, Murat Borlu, Magdalena Czarnecka Operacz, Burhan Engın, Tülin Ergun, İlgen Ertam, Olga Filipovská, Aida Gadzhigoroeva, Martina Kojanová, Aleksandra Lesiak, А. В. Миченко, Nikolay N. Murashkin, Nahide Onsun, Witold Owczarek, Zuzana Plzáková, Adam Reich, Marie Selerová, Burcu Gürbüz

alopecia areata quality of life skin biopsies trichoscopy topical therapies corticosteroids systemic immune modifiers severity scoring systems AA QoL

Studysummary This Delphi study found that moderate-to-severe alopecia areata in Poland, Czechia, Russia, and Türkiye significantly impacts quality of life and highlights an unmet need for more effective treatments.

Our plain-language summary. Not medical advice or a treatment recommendation. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before changing treatment. Full disclaimer

The study, involving a 2-round Delphi panel with 23 dermatologists from Russia, Türkiye, Poland, and Czechia, aimed to understand the burden and management of moderate-to-severe Alopecia Areata (AA) in these countries. It concluded that AA significantly affects the quality of life (QoL) of patients and their families, especially when lesions appear in visible areas other than the scalp, leading to higher work and productivity impairment in adults. The consensus among dermatologists was that skin biopsies and trichoscopy are important for diagnosis, but there is a need for better severity scoring systems. Current treatments like topical therapies, corticosteroids, and systemic immune modifiers were found to be insufficient, indicating a substantial unmet medical need. The study calls for access to novel treatments and more research to develop effective therapies with acceptable safety profiles, aligning with global research on the psychosocial impact of AA and the necessity for standardized treatment protocols.

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