ReviewCureus2025
Permethrin Versus Benzyl Benzoate for the Treatment of Scabies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Latest Advances in Rosacea Treatment: A Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Post-COVID-19 resurgence of scabies in Campania, Italy: the hidden burden and challenges in surveillance.Dermatology reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Scabies is a common skin infestation with a high prevalence in populations with low socioeconomic conditions. The topical application of benzyl benzoate (BB) is effective due to its neurotoxic effects on mites; however, its efficacy remains inconsistent and ambiguous across studies. In contrast, topical permethrin 5% has emerged as one of the most widely prescribed treatments for scabies, attributed to its relatively high efficacy. Recently, several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of topical permethrin, highlighting the need for a comprehensive synthesis of evidence. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the efficacy of topical permethrin compared to BB in treating scabies. A systematic search of Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), and Cochrane Central was performed from inception until January 2025 to identify RCTs comparing the effectiveness of topical permethrin and BB. The primary outcomes were clinical cure rates of scabies lesions and pruritus. Risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model for dichotomous data. All statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 18MP (StataCorp LLC, College Station, USA). A total of seven RCTs, including 783 patients, met the inclusion criteria. Topical permethrin demonstrated significantly higher clinical cure rates for both scabies lesions and pruritus in the first week of treatment, with improvements of 30% and 23%, respectively (RR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.11-1.53; p < 0.001 for scabies lesions, and RR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.04-1.47; p = 0.02 for pruritus), compared to BB. However, no significant differences were observed between the two treatments in subsequent follow-up assessments. In conclusion, topical permethrin provides a superior and faster improvement in the treatment of scabies compared to BB within the first week of therapy, with no significant difference in later assessment durations, highlighting the superiority of permethrin is time-dependent. Further high-quality RCTs with long-term follow-up are warranted to confirm these findings and evaluate sustained efficacy.
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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.