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Review Articles

Efficacy of non-surgical treatments for androgenetic alopecia in men and women: a systematic review with network meta-analyses, and an assessment of evidence quality

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Pages 62-72 | Received 14 Feb 2020, Accepted 24 Mar 2020, Published online: 13 Apr 2020
 

Abstract

Background and objective

Various treatments exist for androgenetic alopecia (AGA); we determined the relative efficacies of non-surgical AGA monotherapies separately for men and women.

Methods

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were systematically searched in PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and clinicaltrials.gov. Separate networks were used for men and women; for each network, a Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) of mean change in hair count from baseline (in units of hairs per square centimeter) was performed using a random effects model.

Results

The networks for male and female AGA included 30 and 10 RCTs, respectively. We identified the following treatments for male AGA in decreasing rank of efficacy: platelet-rich plasma (PRP), low-level laser therapy (LLLT), 0.5 mg dutasteride, 1 mg finasteride, 5% minoxidil, 2% minoxidil, and bimatoprost. For female AGA the following were identified in decreasing rank of efficacy: LLLT, 5% minoxidil, and 2% minoxidil. The evidence quality of the highest ranked therapies, for male and female AGA, was judged to be low.

Conclusions

While newer treatments like LLLT may be more efficacious than more traditional therapies like 5% minoxidil, the efficacy of the more recent treatment modalities needs to be further validated by future RCTs.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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