The observations from this meta-analysis add to the comparative effectiveness literature for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) therapies with regard to the compared interventions.

• The relative efficacy of monotherapy with orally and topically administered minoxidil, dutasteride, and finasteride for male AGA was assessed.

• This network meta-analysis of 23 trials was conducted to determine the rank of efficacy across treatments and the relative efficacy for every possible pairwise comparison of treatments for 4 endpoints (ie, change in total and terminal hair count after 24 and 48 weeks).

• According to findings, the highest probability of being the most efficacious therapy was shown by 5 mg/d of oral dutasteride, followed by these agents in decreasing order of efficacy: 5 mg/d of oral finasteride, 5 mg/d of oral minoxidil, 1 mg/d of oral finasteride, 5% topical minoxidil, 2% topical minoxidil, and 0.25 mg/d of oral minoxidil.