Incidence Rates of Infections, Malignancies, Thromboembolism, and Cardiovascular Events in an Alopecia Areata Cohort from a US Claims Database
June 2023
in “
Dermatology and therapy
”
TLDR People with Alopecia Areata have more herpes simplex infections but similar rates of cancer, blood clots, and heart disease compared to those without it.
The study analyzed data from 8784 patients with Alopecia Areata (AA), including 599 with alopecia totalis or alopecia universalis (AT/AU), and compared them to 26,352 patients without AA. It found that AA patients had a higher incidence rate (IR) of herpes simplex infection than the non-AA cohort, with rates per 1000 person-years of 19.5 and 9.7 respectively. However, the rates of other outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, malignancy, and thromboembolism, were similar between the two cohorts. Patients with AT/AU generally had higher rates of outcome events than those without AT/AU. The study suggests that it may be beneficial to screen for such conditions upon AA diagnosis for earlier treatment intervention.
