P076 Breast cancer screening in patients with frontal fibrosing alopecia

Abstract Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is an inflammatory scarring alopecia. Most people affected are women. It results from the dynamic interaction of genetic, environmental, immunological and hormonal factors. In patients with FFA, there is no specific report of breast cancer and its molecular genetic basis. We aimed to investigate the risk of breast cancer in patients with FFA. We conducted a multicentre case–control study to explore risk factors for FFA and its related comorbidities. The medical records of women with clinicopathological confirmation of FFA within 2015–2020, and age-matched women as controls were gathered through the data registry. Genetic testing for the BRCA1 gene, screening mammography and, if required, magnetic resonance imaging were performed for all participants. In total, 300 cases of FFA and 320 age-matched healthy controls (age 35–74 years) were studied. Demographic characteristics and comorbidities were compared between these two groups. Women with FFA were more likely (P < 0.05) to have impaired fasting blood sugar [28.6 vs. 13.4%, odds ratio (OR) 3.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.98–5.55], history of anti-thyroid peroxidase-positive thyroid diseases (12.3 vs. 3.4%, OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.07–1.87), hysterectomy (3.3 vs. 0.6%, OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.35–3.39), history of benign breast disease (57.3% vs. 26.5%, OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.19–2.38), breast cancer (4.7 vs. 0.9%, OR 3.40, 95% CI 1.07–8.54) and BRCA1 mutation (1.7 vs. 0.3%, OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.50–3.28). The most common findings in cases of FFA with benign breast disease were fibroadenoma (40.9%), fibrocystic changes (38%) and dense fibrosis (8.2%). The results of this study support possible correlation of FFA with breast cancer. The main benefit will be early screening of patients with FFA at risk of breast cancer along with the potential for new therapies.