Alopecia Areata Linked to Higher Incidence Rates of Herpes Simplex Infection

According to a study published in Dermatology and Therapy, patients with alopecia areata (AA) have higher incidence rates of herpes simplex infection than non-AA cohorts.

Researcher aimed to assess the incidence rates of serious infections, malignancies, major adverse cardiovascular events, and thromboembolic events in both cohorts. They utilized the US claims data from the Optum Clinformatics Data Mart database, and included patients aged 12 years and older, with at least 2 diagnosis codes for AA between October 2016 and September 2020. A total of 8784 patients with AA, including 599 with alopecia totalis or alopecia universalis (AT/AU), were matched with 26352 patients without AA, in terms of age, sex, and race.

Results showed that the incidence rate per 1000 person-years for serious infections was slightly higher in the AA cohort compared with the non-AA cohort. Additionally, patients with AT/AU experienced significantly higher incidence rates for most baseline comorbidities and outcome events assessed. There was also a higher incidence rate of herpes simplex infections in the AA cohort compared with the non-AA cohort.

“Patients with AT/AU generally had higher rates of outcome events than patients without AT/AU,” the authors concluded.

Reference
George P, Jagun O, Liu Q, et al. Incidence rates of infections, malignancies, thromboembolism, and cardiovascular events in an alopecia areata cohort from a US claims database. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). Published online June 10, 2023. doi:10.1007/s13555-023-00937-9