Degree of Alignment Between Japanese Patients and Physicians on Alopecia Areata Disease Severity and Treatment Satisfaction: A Real-World Survey

The study, involving 545 Japanese patients with Alopecia Areata (AA) and 85 physicians, found a significant misalignment in perceptions of disease severity and treatment satisfaction. While 76.3% of patient-physician pairs agreed on disease severity, physicians often rated it as more severe than patients did, especially in the most severe cases. Treatment satisfaction was aligned in only 57.6% of cases, with physicians generally less satisfied than patients, particularly due to treatment inefficacy in severe hair loss cases. Anxiety and depression were reported in 39.8% and 29.9% of patients, respectively. The study concluded that there is a need for improved communication and more effective treatments to increase satisfaction and quality of life for AA patients. It also highlighted the high use of topical corticosteroids and the dissatisfaction with treatment, especially as severity increased. The study's limitations include potential selection and recall bias, and the small sample sizes for the most severe groups may limit the generalizability of the findings.