The impact of childhood atopic dermatitis on the patient’s family

A study aiming to clarify the impact of atopic dermatitis on family life carried out at the Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Qassim University in Saudi Arabia has found that the quality of life of most of those who took part was moderately to severely affected. A total of 447 children took part, whose parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire, whilst the severity of the disease was evaluated using the SCORAD (SCORing Atopic Dermatitis, created by the European Task Force in 1993) index. For each questionnaire a total score of 0 to 5 is considered as normal quality of life, 6 to 10 as low, 11 to 20 as moderate and >20 as high alteration in quality of life. Using this classification, the scientists found only 15 children (3.4%) had normal quality of life, 104 (23.3%) were mildly affected, 297 (66.4%) were moderately affected and 31 (6.9%) had severe alteration to their quality of life. The alteration to the quality of life was significantly correlated to the increasing severity of the disease. This research shows how useful a simple questionnaire can be in designing the appropriate management of the disease.

Source: PubMed

November 2010

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