Online attitudes about the first approved systemic treatment for alopecia areata: asentiment analysis of Reddit posts.

Abstract

Alopecia areata (AA) is a complex inflammatory skin disease with a tremendous physical and emotional burden. Understanding patient sentiment towards AA treatment, particularly those treatments approved for AA, may help in better addressing patient needs. Here, we analysed 13 771 Reddit posts from the ‘alopecia_areata’ subreddit using sentiment analysis to evaluate online attitudes about the first approved systemic treatment for AA, baricitinib. We show that posts including baricitinib or related terms are more likely to be positive, with a higher likelihood of being positive after Food and Drug Administration approval.