The clinical efficacy and safety of oral compound glycyrrhizin in adult patients with mild-to-moderate active alopecia areata: A randomized controlled study

Introduction: The efficacy of the current therapy for alopecia areata (AA) remains unsatisfactory, due to disease recurrence and drug side effects. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy, recurrence rate, and safety of the new therapy with oral glycyrrhizin in adult patients with mild to moderate active AA. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial using two oral tablets of 25 mg glycyrrhizin three times per day (lid) for test group (65 patients), or two oral tablets of 25 mg cystine lid for the control (56 cases). Patients in both groups were also treated with topical 0.05% halometasone cream twice daily (bid). The treatment period was 24 weeks, including 12 weeks of active therapy, followed by another 12 weeks of observation. Results: The complete regrowth rate and total efficacy of the test group were significantly higher than the control group (16.92% vs. 5.36%, and 63.08% vs. 30.36%, p < 0.05). In particular, the total efficacy in glycyrrhizin-treated moderate or short-duration patients was significantly higher than the control (53.33% vs. 11.11%, and 72.70% vs. 26.47%, p < 0.05). During the follow-up period, the recurrence rate was 12.3% (8/65) in the test group, lower than that of the control. The incidence rate of adverse effects between the two groups was not statistically different (9.23% vs.10.71%, p > 0.05), and no severe adverse events were observed. Conclusions: Glycyrrhizin treatment is safe and effective for adult patients with mild to moderate active AA. This therapy has higher therapeutic efficacy in patients with moderate AA or short duration of the disease.