A comparison of five ways to measure atopic dermatitis severity in adults

Summary Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a common skin disease, especially in childhood. AD can cause several types of skin lesions (patches of eczema) that can affect different parts of the body, and varying levels of itch and sleep disturbance. These are important parts of AD severity. Many different systems, or ‘tools’, have been created that ask patients about these aspects of AD severity. These tools could be used in clinical practice (i.e. by doctors and nurses) to make sure patients get the right treatment. It was unknown how valid (accurate) some of these tools are and how they compare to each other. Using data from the AD in America study, the authors compared how a group of 602 U.S. adults with AD answered 6 different surveys to measure their disease severity. The Patient‐Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), Patient‐Oriented Scoring AD (PO‐SCORAD) total score and objective and subjective sub‐scores, and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)‐itch all did a good job of showing how severe the AD was. PO‐SCORAD did the best job of telling how severe the AD was, and how much AD harmed quality of life and mental health. While there were some problems with the validity of these tools, the authors think they are valid enough to assess how severe AD is in clinical practice. This summary relates to the study: Validation of five patient‐reported outcomes for atopic dermatitis severity in adults Linked Article: Silverberg et al. Br J Dermatol 2020; 182:104–111