LPP and FFA Prevalence Estimates: 1 in 5,882 people have LPP and 1 in 6,666 have FFA

New Data on FFA and LPP Prevalence

In 2021, researchers from Columbia University Irving Medical Center set out to determine the prevalence of lichen planopilaris and frontal fibrosing alopecia. This work complimented their similar work looking at LPP and FFA incidence.

In other words, Trager et al 2021 was a study of LPP prevalence I’ll talk about today. Lavian et al 2021 was the groups 2021 study looking at LPP incidence. The two studies complement each other.

I reviewed the Trager et al study as part of the “Top 20 Studies of 2020.” The study was first published online in 2020 and then formally in the August 2021 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

One can listen here to the commentary.

Trager et al, 2021

Authors examined electronic health records from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and ColumbiaDoctors for patients with ICD 10, code L66.1 (LPP, FFA) between 2015 and 2018. A medical record review was performed to verify that the findings for all patients were consistent with LPP/FFA. All patients in the health system without LPP or FFA between 2015 and 2018 were used as controls.

Of 1,189,507 patients seen between 2015 and 2018, 381 had an ICD code L66.1, and 376 of these patients met clinical criteria for LPP (n = 203) or FFA (n= 173). The overall crude prevalence was 0.017% for LPP (1 in 5,882) and 0.015% for FFA (1 in 6666). The prevalence for LPP was highest in the 41 to 50 year range and for FFA alone, it was highest between 51 and 60 years and 61 and 70 years.

72.4 % of LPP patients were women and 27.6 % were male. For FFA it was even more skewed to females. 91.9% of patients were female and 8.1 % were female.

Comments

This is a very important study which gives some of the first good estimates on LPP and FFA prevalence. I liked this study alot. As I reviewed with webinar participants during the “Top 20 Studies of 2020” webinar (see above), I really do think that FFA and LPP are more common than this - especially LPP. What this data tells me is that there are probably lots and lots of people with LPP and FFA walking around undiagnosed.

REFERENCE

Trager MH et al. Prevalence estimates for lichen planopilaris and frontal fibrosing alopecia in a New York City health care system. J Am Acad Dermatol 2021 Apr;84(4):1166-1169

Lavian J et al. Incidence estimates for lichen planopilaris and frontal fibrosing alopecia in a New York City health care system.Dermatol Online J. 2021 Aug 15;27(8).