Community-Based Practice Variations in Topical Treatment of Actinic Keratoses.

Actinic keratoses (AKs) are precancerous skin lesions afflicting nearly 58 million people in the United States per year and costing over a billion dollars annually to treat. Two of the most widely used topical field-based treatments for AKs are fluorouracil and imiquimod. Although variations exist in how these topical medications are prescribed in terms of frequency, duration, and strength for AK treatment, no studies have systematically examined how patient and health care provider factors impact prescribed regimens. Using data from a large community-based population, we examined how variations in fluorouracil and imiquimod prescription patterns for AKs treatment was influenced by patient age, sex, AK anatomic site, and prescriber type.