title: Topical immunotherapy in alopecia areata: anamnestic and clinical criteria of prognostic significance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Topical immunotherapy of alopecia areata (AA) is an effective but time-consuming treatment with unknown long-term risks.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to identify criteria which allow a selection of patients with a good prognosis for topical immunotherapy with diphencyprone.
  
  
  METHODS
  The anamnestic and clinical data of 50 successfully and 55 unsuccessfully treated patients were compared by the Mann-Whitney test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five factors were found to be of prognostic significance: type of AA (p < or = 0.001), presence of nail changes (p < or = 0.001), duration of AA before treatment (p < or = 0.005), age at onset (p < or = 0.01) and association with atopic eczema (p < or = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A selection of AA patients who are likely to respond to topical immunotherapy is possible on the basis of anamnestic and clinical data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weise
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kretzschmar
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamm
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000506:Alopecia Areata / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003521:Cyclopropanes / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009262:Nails; D018579:Patient Selection; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D003521:Cyclopropanes; C029402:diphenylcyclopropenone