INTRODUCTION
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) has an estimated global prevalence of up to 80% in men and 42% in women that results from the effect of dihydrotestosterone miniaturizing scalp follicles.1,2 The diagnosis often provokes significant emotional distress and psychological burden to patients, leading to increased demand for effective treatments.
Mainstream news outlets in recent years have attracted heightened participation among healthcare professionals to use such mediums to disseminate medical information for disease awareness and prevention, as it represents an unprecedented opportunity to improve health literacy, self-efficacy, and treatment adherence among populations.1 While proving useful, these channels have also opened the door for spread of misinformation with potential implications including encouragement of unproven treatments without adequate disclosures or discussion of risks.1,3 With the release of and attention to the New York Times (NYT) article "An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say" in August 2022, low-dose oral minoxidil (LDOM) gained a surge in popularity with rising public curiosity toward AGA management. Although recognized as an off-label approach when compared to its topical analogue, we sought to elucidate the influence of this publication on consumer interest by surveying dermatologists on their perceived change in patient interest and resulting volumes as well as assessing communal interest trends on AGA and LDOM using Google Analytics.
Mainstream news outlets in recent years have attracted heightened participation among healthcare professionals to use such mediums to disseminate medical information for disease awareness and prevention, as it represents an unprecedented opportunity to improve health literacy, self-efficacy, and treatment adherence among populations.1 While proving useful, these channels have also opened the door for spread of misinformation with potential implications including encouragement of unproven treatments without adequate disclosures or discussion of risks.1,3 With the release of and attention to the New York Times (NYT) article "An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say" in August 2022, low-dose oral minoxidil (LDOM) gained a surge in popularity with rising public curiosity toward AGA management. Although recognized as an off-label approach when compared to its topical analogue, we sought to elucidate the influence of this publication on consumer interest by surveying dermatologists on their perceived change in patient interest and resulting volumes as well as assessing communal interest trends on AGA and LDOM using Google Analytics.
MATERIALS
An IRB-approved (#NCR224464) thirty-question survey was sent using the ODAC conference email listserv. Respondents were predominantly dermatologists, a minority (estimated ~14%) were other dermatology providers including physician assistants and nurse practitioners. A total of 201 surveys were completed and anonymously compiled for further analysis. Concurrently, public interest trends on AGA were examined using Google Analytics and correlated with health-related news over matching time intervals. Weekly relative search volumes (RSV) over a one-year period from February 2022 to February 2023 pertaining to AGA-associated internet search terms, "low-dose oral minoxidil’"(LDOM), "pattern hair loss" (PHL), and "androgenetic alopecia" (AGA), were identified and scaled from 0 to 100- in proportion to the time at which a given term's popularity is maximal, represented by an RSV of 100.
