ReviewAnnals of family medicine
Comparative Efficacy of Pharmacological Treatments for Acne Vulgaris: A Network Meta-Analysis of 221 Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Topical Antibiotic Monotherapy Only Provides Mild Benefit for Patients with Acne Vulgaris: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.Clinical drug investigation · 2026Pooled it
- Performance and Safety of the Medical Device Ialuxid Gel in the Treatment of Mild-Moderate Acne Vulgaris: An Open-Label, Noncomparative Multicentre Interventional Clinical Trial.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2025Trial
- Expert Consensus on the Rational Approach to Isotretinoin Usage for Effective Management of Acne: ERAISE ACNE Recommendations.Dermatology and therapy · 2026Review
- Beyond Isotretinoin: A Narrative Review of Emerging Systemic Therapies for Moderate-to-Severe Acne.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Review
- Clinical practice style is associated with greater isotretinoin use for acne in an integrated health system: An ecological study.JAAD international · 2026Article
- The Management of Acne in General Practice using Isotretinoin: A Scoping Review Protocol.HRB open research · 2026Article
- Rebalancing the Skin: The Microbiome, Acne Pathogenesis, and the Future of Natural and Synthetic Therapies.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Competencies and clinical guidelines for managing acne with isotretinoin in general practice: a scoping review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- Article
- Clindamycin Phosphate 1.2%/Adapalene 0.15%/Benzoyl Peroxide 3.1% to Treat Acne Induced by Janus Kinase Inhibitor Treatment: A Case Report.The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology · 2025Article
- Efficacy and Safety of Clindamycin Phosphate 1.2%/Adapalene 0.15%/Benzoyl Peroxide 3.1% Gel: Post Hoc Analysis by Baseline Disease Severity.Dermatology and therapy · 2025Article
- Hormonal Therapies for Acne: A Comprehensive Update for Dermatologists.Dermatology and therapy · 2025Review
- Prospective Pilot Evaluation of the Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Clindamycin Phosphate 1.2%/Adapalene 0.15%/Benzoyl Peroxide 3.1% Gel plus Clascoterone 1% Cream in Adult Patients with Acne.The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology · 2025Article
- Criticality of Benzoyl Peroxide and Antibiotic Fixed Combinations in Combating Rising Resistance inClinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2025Article
- Review
- Comparison of the Efficacy of Clascoterone, Trifarotene, and Tazarotene for the Treatment of Acne: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.Dermatology and therapy · 2024Review
- Triple Combination Clindamycin Phosphate 1.2%/Adapalene 0.15%/Benzoyl Peroxide 3.1% for Acne: Efficacy and Safety from a Pooled Phase 3 Analysis.Dermatology and therapy · 2024Article
- Recent Trends in the Management of Acne Vulgaris: A Review Focusing on Clinical Studies in the Last Decade.Cureus · 2024Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAcne is an extremely common skin disease with an estimated global prevalence of 9.4%. We aim to provide comprehensive comparisons of the common pharmacological treatments for acne.
methodsRandomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy of pharmacological therapies for acne vulgaris in patients of any age and sex and with a treatment duration of >2 weeks were included. PubMed and Embase databases were searched from inception until February 2022. Our prespecified primary end points were mean percentage reduction in total, inflammatory, and noninflammatory lesions. Treatment ranking was determined by
resultsThere were 210 articles describing 221 trials and 37 interventions included in the analysis. Our primary analysis of percentage reduction in total lesion count had 65,601 patients enrolled. Across all trials, the mean age was 20.4 years. The median duration of treatment was 12 weeks. The median total, inflammatory, and noninflammatory lesion counts were 72, 27, and 44, respectively. The most effective treatment was oral isotretinoin (mean difference [MD] = 48.41;
conclusionThe most effective treatment for acne is oral isotretinoin, followed by triple therapies containing a topical retinoid, BPO, and an antibiotic. We present detailed comparisons of each intervention to serve as a practical database.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.