Prevalence and Treatment Patterns in Patients With Lichen Planopilaris

Lichen planopilaris (LPP) is a form of scarring alopecia associated with progressive, permanent hair loss. Symptoms range from burning pain to itching, also carrying substantial psychological morbidity. Yet, disease characteristics, pathophysiology, and effective treatment data are limited, making treatment a challenge.

To describe the prevalence and dermatologist-prescribed treatment patterns of LPP among US adults.

This cross-sectional study used the Explorys database. The prevalence analysis used a 15% random sample and identified US adults with LPP diagnoses between 2017 and 2019. The LPP treatment analysis included all patients with LPP diagnoses between 2016 and 2020 and a dermatologist encounter in the first year after diagnosis. Data were analyzed from January 2023 to April 2023.

The main outcomes of the prevalence analysis were the crude and standardized prevalence estimates of US adults with LPP across age, sex, and racial groups. The main outcomes of the treatment analysis were the frequency of LPP treatments within 1 year of diagnosis, and the number of patients who continued treatment beyond 1 year, switched treatments, and combined treatments.

Among 1 466 832 eligible patients analyzed for prevalence, 241 patients had an LPP diagnosis (222 [92.1%] female; median [IQR] age, 64 [54-73] years). Standardized overall prevalence was 13.4 per 100 000 (95% CI, 11.7-15.1). In the treatment analysis, 991 patients had an LPP diagnosis (907 [91.5%] female; median (IQR) age, 60 [47-69] years). Most received at least 1 type of medication (635 [64.1%]), most frequently intralesional corticosteroids (370 [37.3%]) and topical corticosteroids (342 [34.5%]), followed by doxycycline (104 [10.5%]) and hydroxychloroquine (72 [7.3%]). Treatment continued beyond 1 year in 71 of 200 patients (35.5%) prescribed intralesional corticosteroids and 7 of 29 patients (24.1%) prescribed hydroxychloroquine. Treatment switching at 1 year occurred in 32 of 254 patients (12.6%) first prescribed an intralesional corticosteroid and in 44 of 194 (22.7%) first prescribed a topical corticosteroid. Combinations of 2 or 3 treatment types were given to 137 (13.8%) and 74 (7.5%) patients, respectively.

This cross-sectional study reported prevalence and treatment patterns for US adults with LPP in a representative sample. Most patients with LPP received treatment, and many received multiple treatment types and switched treatments, suggesting further research into medication selection offers clinical benefit.