Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Dec;57(1):2491659.
doi: 10.1080/07853890.2025.2491659. Epub 2025 Apr 23.

Efficacy and safety of compound glycyrrhizin in patients with alopecia areata: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ming Li  1 , Lujing Xiang  2 , Yan Li  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Efficacy and safety of compound glycyrrhizin in patients with alopecia areata: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ming Li et al. Ann Med. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Although compound glycyrrhizin (CG) has been widely used to alopecia areata (AA) in China, its efficacy and safety remain unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CG for AA.

Materials and methods: Eight literature databases were retrieved from their inceptions to 29 February 2024 to identify the eligible randomized controlled trials comparing CG plus conventional treatments with conventional treatments alone for the treatment of AA. Risk ratio (RR), mean difference and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to estimate the pooled results. RevMan 5.4 (Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) and Stata 12.0 software (StataCorp., College Station, TX) were used for statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 23 eligible studies with 2219 patients were included. The pooled results revealed that CG plus conventional treatments was superior to conventional treatments alone in cure rate (RR = 1.60, 95%CI [1.47, 1.74], p < .001), total efficacy rate (RR = 1.37, 95%CI [1.29, 1.45], p < .001) and the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score, regardless of different conventional treatments, treatment courses and doses of CG. In terms of safety, a few patients suffered from adverse events (AEs), including oedema, elevated blood pressure and gastrointestinal tract discomfort, and the incidence of oedema was higher in the patients receiving CG (RR = 2.53, 95%CI [1.04, 6.19], p = .04).

Conclusions: The combination of CG and conventional treatments was effective and safe for patients with AA, and CG could promote hair regrowth with mild AEs.

Keywords: Adverse reactions; alopecia areata; compound glycyrrhizin; effectiveness; meta-analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram of the study selection.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Risk of bias summary (a) and risk of bias graph (b) of the included studies.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparison between CG plus conventional treatments and conventional treatments alone for cure rate (a) and subgroups analyses of cure rate (b).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Comparison between CG plus conventional treatments and conventional treatments alone for total efficacy rate (a) and subgroups analyses of total efficacy rate (b).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Comparison between CG plus conventional treatments and conventional treatments alone for SALT score.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Comparison between CG plus conventional treatments and conventional treatments alone for the incidences of some adverse events.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Results of publication bias for funnel plot of cure rate (a), Egger’s test of cure rate (b), funnel plot of total efficacy rate (c) and Egger’s test of total efficacy rate (d).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Lee HH, Gwillim E, Patel KR, et al. . Epidemiology of alopecia areata, ophiasis, totalis, and universalis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;82(3):675–682. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2019.08.032. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Macbeth AE, Holmes S, Harries M, et al. . The associated burden of mental health conditions in alopecia areata: a population-based study in UK primary care. Br J Dermatol. 2022;187(1):73–81. doi: 10.1111/bjd.21055. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ito T, Kamei K, Yuasa A, et al. . Health-related quality of life in patients with alopecia areata: results of a Japanese survey with norm-based comparisons. J Dermatol. 2022;49(6):584–593. doi: 10.1111/1346-8138.16364. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ray M, Swallow E, Gandhi K, et al. . Healthcare utilization and costs among US adolescents with alopecia areata. J Health Econ Outcomes Res. 2022;9(2):11–18. doi: 10.36469/001c.36229. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meah N, Wall D, York K, et al. . The Alopecia Areata Consensus of Experts (ACE) study: results of an international expert opinion on treatments for alopecia areata. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;83(1):123–130. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2020.03.004. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources