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Atopic dermatitis itch scale: A new measure to assess pruritus in patients with atopic dermatitis

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eMediNexus    22 April 2020

Pruritus represents the fundamental symptom of atopic dermatitis (AD).

Martin and colleagues recently conducted a study to devise a patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument for daily administration in clinical trials in order to measure AD-related itch in adolescents and adults that would meet the US Food and Drug Administrations (FDAs) PRO Guidance standards.

Six focus groups were conducted constituting of 49 patients with AD, including 32 adults and 17 adolescents. Investigators conducted three continual rounds of cognitive debriefing interviews among 26 patients with AD (17 adults; 9 adolescents) in order to pretest and refine the instrument.

AD-related itching was considered as the most bothersome AD symptom by about two-thirds of the focus group participants. The items in the initial version of the instrument, termed the Atopic Dermatitis Itch Scale (ADIS), were developed to reflect the concepts that bear the most relevance to the assessment of itching as described during the focus groups. Based on results of the cognitive debriefing interviews, investigators devised an 8-item final version of the ADIS.

The ADIS represents a content valid PRO instrument that addresses the concepts critical to the measurement of AD-related itching. According to the investigators, this is the first instrument developed to assess AD-related itch in patients as young as 12 years following the recommendations of the PRO Guidance.

Source: Martin SA, Brown TM, Fehnel S, et al. The atopic dermatitis itch scale: development of a new measure to assess pruritus in patients with atopic dermatitis. J Dermatolog Treat. 2020 Feb 10:1-7.

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