Treatment of moderate-to-severe alopecia areata in patients over the age of 65 with baricitinib.

Abstract

Baricitinib is a Janus kinase inhibitor which is now FDA approved for the treatment of severe alopecia areata (AA) in adults. However, the clinical trials which demonstrated the efficacy of baricitinib in the treatment of severe AA did not include men aged >60 years and women aged >70 years. We retrospectively assessed the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in 14 patients aged ≥65 years with moderate-to-severe AA. After a mean (SD) duration of 18.5 (11.9) months, a 72.0% reduction in the mean SALT score from baseline was observed. Partial or complete eyebrow and eyelash hair was observed in 57.1% and 42.9% of patients respectively. Adverse effects of baricitinib were mild. No cases of venous thromboembolism (VTE), major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) or malignancy were reported.