Exploring pharmacological treatment for trichotillomania: do we need better education?

Abstract

Background: Trichotillomania, also known as hair-pulling disorder, is a chronic psychiatric condition with a fluctuating course in which an individual pulls out their hair, leading to visible hair loss and psychosocial sequelae. Due to the unknown pathogenesis, the treatment of this disorder is complex and remains a challenge for dermatologists and psychiatrists. Since guidelines for treating trichotillomania are lacking and, consequently, no common treatment strategy exists, we decided to perform a large-scale, global retrospective cohort study to assess the characterized real-world prescription patterns in treating trichotillomania.

Methods: The research used the TrinetX database for patients with trichotillomania (ICD 10 - F63.3) within the European and the United States Collaborative Network (EC and UC, respectively). After consulting with a psychodermatology expert, a list of 25 medications was investigated.

Results: Data on the prescription drugs of 1,275 patients from the EC and 109,741 patients from the UC were collected. In both the EC and UC cohorts, benzodiazepine derivatives, particularly lorazepam and midazolam, were the most commonly prescribed sedatives/hypnotics. Antipsychotic prescriptions, primarily haloperidol, followed benzodiazepines. After the trichotillomania diagnosis, notable changes in drug prescriptions for the EC cohort, including an increased likelihood of receiving acetylcysteine, haloperidol, quetiapine, sertraline, olanzapine, and risperidone were observed. The UC cohort showed minimal changes. Overall, both cohorts leaned toward benzodiazepine prescriptions (37% UC, 21% EC) and had limited antidepressant usage. Haloperidol (19.3%) and quetiapine (15.1%) were commonly prescribed in both cohorts.

Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that the real-world prescription patterns for trichotillomania differ significantly from the expert-proposed therapeutic approach and point toward the necessity of creating standards of pharmacological care and better education.