Alopecia Areata: Study of New Treatment Perspectives and Their Impact on Quality of Life and Sexual Health
TLDR New treatments for alopecia areata show promise, but their real-world effectiveness and impact on life and sexual health need more study.
Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by non-scarring hair loss, linked to the loss of immune privilege in hair follicles. Recent advances have identified specific therapeutic targets, notably the JAK-STAT pathway, which has transformed the treatment of extensive AA. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness and safety of JAK inhibitors (iJAK) in real-world clinical settings and on predictors of therapeutic response. While studies have assessed AA's impact on patients' quality of life, they often focus on mood changes, neglecting long-term effects and sexual health. This doctoral thesis aims to comprehensively address therapeutic advances and the overall impact of AA by analyzing the real-world effectiveness and safety of baricitinib, identifying clinical and biological response predictors, studying the disease's cumulative impact on life and sexual health, and developing new evaluation tools for health-related quality of life in AA patients.
