Oral Minoxidil For Hair Loss Not Linked to Tachycardia

TOPLINE:

In a large retrospective study of patients with androgenic alopecia or other nonscarring hair loss, treatment with low-dose oral minoxidil (LDOM) was not associated with an increased risk for tachycardia.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a study of 524,522 patients with androgenic alopecia or other nonscarring hair loss, who did not have a history of hypertension, tachycardia, or arrhythmia (about 62% White; 9% Black; 10% Hispanic or Latino individuals) from the TriNetX database from 2004 to 2024.
• Of those patients, 9267 were on LDOM (≤ 5 mg/d minoxidil, used off-label for treating hair loss); the rest were minoxidil-naïve.
• In the LDOM vs control group, patients were older (mean age, 45.5 years vs 39.8 years; P < .0001) and there were more men (33% vs 19%, P < .0001).
• The study outcome was the risk for tachycardia.

TAKEAWAY:

• A total of 126 patients (7.7%) who received LDOM were diagnosed with tachycardia; the median time to diagnosis was 245 days.
• The risk for tachycardia was not significantly different among patients treated with LDOM compared with controls (hazard ratio [HR], 0.90; CI, 0.76-1.08), and there was no association between LDOM and tachycardia (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.77-1.10).
• The risk for tachycardia was lower in men than women (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.62-0.67) and in Asian patients (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.76-0.88).
• Black (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.13-1.25) and White patients (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.25-1.34) showed an increased risk for tachycardia.

IN PRACTICE:

The results suggest that “hair loss treatment with LDOM is safe in patients without cardiac risk factors, and therefore, coadministration of beta-adrenergic blockers is not recommended,” the authors wrote, noting that large prospective studies are needed to confirm their findings. The study, they added, is the largest to date “analyzing tachycardia risk with LDOM treatment for nonscarring hair loss and the only study with a control group.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Zachary Neubauer, Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was published online on August 8 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The retrospective design and reliance on diagnostic coding could have introduced bias. Dosing frequency and cardiac monitoring data were unavailable. Transient tachycardia episodes might have been missed, and physician prescribing behavior could have influenced patient selection.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not receive any funding. One author disclosed receiving research funding from Moberg Pharmaceuticals and BelleTorus Corporation.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.