Incidence of Alopecia from Endocrine Therapies in Cancer

The document reports a systematic analysis of the incidence of alopecia from endocrine therapies used in cancer treatment, based on a literature review of phase II and III clinical trials from 1966-2012. The analysis included data from 14,769 patients across 35 trials, revealing that alopecia occurred in patients treated with aromatase inhibitors (0-9.4%), the LHRH agonist leuprolide (9.5%), fulvestrant (0-8%), megestrol (0.5-11%), and tamoxifen (0-17%). The cancers most commonly associated with alopecia were breast (74%) and prostate (5.7%). The study concluded that alopecia is a common but underreported side effect of endocrine therapies, particularly in breast and prostate cancer treatments, and that recognizing the incidence of alopecia is crucial for patient counseling and management of this quality of life issue. No commercial support was identified for this study.