Trends in utilization of non‐first‐line topical acne medications among children, adolescents, and adults in the United States, 2012‐2016

Current knowledge about usage of effective, but non-first-line topical acne medications in the United States is limited. We aimed to investigate utilization patterns and temporal trends for such acne medications in the US ambulatory care.Pediatric (≤18 years old) and adult (>18 years old) data from the 2012 to 2016 (inclusive) cycles of the US National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were extracted. Utilization patterns of six non-first-line topical acne medications (ie, azelaic acid, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, sulfur, resorcinol, and zinc) were compared and followed over time.Data from 218 410 US office-based sampled visits during 2012-2016 were included in the analysis. Across all acne visits (n = 1542), salicylic acid (1.58%), azelaic acid (1.22%), and glycolic acid (0.52%) were the most frequently used agents, while zinc and resorcinol were not used. Sulfur (0.52%) and salicylic acid (0.33%) were the only medications used in preadolescents, and none of these medications were used in the neonatal or infantile group. Temporal trends for using at least one of these medications were insignificant among both pediatric and adult age groups (P = .825 and .136, respectively).Salicylic acid and azelaic acid are the most frequently used of the studied second-line medications to treat acne, although the use of these and the other non-first-line topical medications overall is uncommon, especially among younger groups of US pediatric patients.