25 Oct Highly Prevalent Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) Is Not Just a Childhood Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Weidinger
Dr. Stephan Weidinger, MD, MaHM
Professor of Dermatology
Christian-Albrechts-Universit
Kiel
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Relatively little is known about the epidemiology and burden of Atopic Dermatitis (AD) in children, adolescents and adults, however, there is increasing evidence that the disease is highly prevalent also in these age groups. Further, very little is known about the disease severity strata.
Severity, however, largely defines treatment needs. The EPI-CARE (EPIdemiology of Children with Atopic dermatitis Reporting on their Experience) study was a cross-sectional web-based study of the prevalence and burden of AD in both children and adolescents. It was performed globally across Europe, North America (US, Canada), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico), Asia (Japan, Taiwan), the Middle East (Israel, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates) and Russia, and used very stringent definitions of AD and the same methodology across age groups.
We first analyzed the adolescent data, and it turned out that the prevalence of active Atopic Dermatitis is higher than expected, ranging from 9.29% in the US and 14.7% in Europe. Of note, almost 50% of the adolescents with current AD reported an overall moderate to severe disease activity, and the majority reported a multidimensional burden that includes not only the skin symptoms associated with AD, but also sleep disturbances, symptoms of anxiety/depression, and reductions in quality‐of‐life and productivity. Adolescents also reported a high burden of coexisting atopic diseases that increased with AD severity – 68.6% of those with moderate AD and 81% of those with severe AD reported at least one coexisting atopic disease. atopic dermatitis substantially affects the life of patients and their families, and this burden is higher with greater AD severity.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Atopic Dermatitis is not just a childhood disease, but a lifelong disease with fluctuating activity, which is highly prevalent also in adolescents, and often severely impacts patients’ quality of life. The high patient-reported and caregiver-reported burden associated with AD demonstrates the need for AD assessment that goes beyond clinical measures of disease activity and takes into account the patient perspective.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: I think it is important to do more research on the disease course over long periods of time, and to work out the specific needs of patients and patient subgroups, including different age groups.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: It is great to see that there is now increasing recognition of AD as a common, extremely burdensome chronic inflammatory skin disease with many unmet needs, and that there is now so much effort and progress in research and therapy development.
- The EPI-CARE study was funded by Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- The study was conducted by Kantar Health and was guided by an external steering committee.
- Dr. Stephan Weidinger has performed consultancies for Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is involved in performing clinical trials with many pharmaceutical companies that manufacture drugs used for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic eczema.
Citation:
EPIdemiology of Children with Atopic Dermatitis Reporting on their Experience
[wysija_form id=”3″]
[last-modified]
The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.
Last Updated on October 25, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD