Abedini R, Abdshah A, Ghandi N, Janatalipour A, Torabi S, Nasimi M. Treatment satisfaction and response in patients with severe alopecia areata under treatment with diphenylcyclopropenone.
Health Sci Rep 2022;
5:e602. [PMID:
35509377 PMCID:
PMC9059174 DOI:
10.1002/hsr2.602]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background and Aims
Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease of hair follicles. Treatments currently include topical and intralesional corticosteroids and contact immunotherapy; however, the overall prognosis is usually unfavorable. In severe AA, topical immunotherapy with diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) is preferred. Since its effectiveness is heterogeneous and there are several side effects, we decided to measure the patients' satisfaction using the “Version II of the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication,” which investigates satisfaction with effectiveness, side effects, convenience, and global satisfaction.
Methods
We examined 100 patients under treatment with DPCP for treatment response, asked them to respond to the questionnaire, and calculated their overall scores out of 400. We then investigated the association between the patients' characteristics with their treatment response and satisfaction.
Results
The overall satisfaction of patients was 257/400. We observed a significant association between patients' satisfaction scores on effectiveness and global satisfaction with their response to treatment (p < 0.001). The patients' satisfaction with the treatment's convenience had a significantly positive association with the age of receiving the diagnosis (p = 0.028). The overall treatment satisfaction was significantly associated with treatment response (276 vs. 213, p = 0.000).
Conclusion
Although there are currently no gold standard treatments for severe AA, DPCP demonstrated a 71% response to treatment, and patients with response were significantly more satisfied with their treatment.
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