Development and validation of the Dermatology Social Comparison (DSC) Scale.

BACKGROUND: Social comparison, the process of evaluating one's characteristics in relation to others, influences individuals' self-perception and behavior. However, instruments are scarce for assessing social comparison in the medical setting. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to develop and validate a new scale for assessing social comparison. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven statements were developed, encompassing the perceived normality of having rashes, the tendency to compare their situation with others, and the emotional response when seeing someone better or worse off than themselves. The instrument was piloted in 15 patients for readability and face validity, then prospectively validated using modern psychometric methods in 1,053 adult patients with eczema or psoriasis from three tertiary dermatological centers in Singapore. RESULTS: Of 1,053 adult patients, 802 (76.2%) had eczema, and 251 (23.8%) had psoriasis. Exploratory factor analysis (using a 70% sample split) showed a single factor model comprising three questions (Eigenvalue: 1.4). Confirmatory factor analysis with the remaining 30% of the sample confirmed an excellent model fit. Cronbach's alpha was 0.7, and inter-item correlations ranged from 0.42 to 0.46. In the Rasch analysis, item fit statistics and item characteristic curves showed appropriate discrimination between response options, although reliability was suboptimal with a person separation reliability of 0.63. CONCLUSIONS: Comprising 3 questions, the newly derived social comparison scale showed acceptable psychometrics as a measure of social comparison for clinical and research purposes in dermatology. Its brief nature likely results from its brevity and applicability to conditions beyond eczema and psoriasis, which warrants further investigation.

The Global Hidradenitis Suppurativa Atlas (GHiSA) Methodology: Combining Global Proportions in a Pooled Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Data concerning the global burden of Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) are limited. Reported prevalence estimates vary between 0.0003% and 4.1%, and data from various geographical regions are still to be collected. Previously reported prevalence rates have been limited by the methodological approach and source of data. This has resulted in great heterogeneity as prevalence data from physician-diagnosed cases poorly match those of self-reported apparent HS disease. METHODS: The Global Hidradenitis Suppurativa Atlas (GHiSA) introduces an innovative approach to determine the global prevalence of HS. This approach involves using a previously validated questionnaire to screen apparently healthy adults accompanying a patient to a non-dermatological outpatient clinic visit in a hospital. The screening questionnaire (i.e., the index test) is combined with a subsequent physician-based in-person validation (i.e., the reference standard) of the participants who screen positive. Ten percent of the screen-negative participants are also clinically assessed to verify the diagnostic precision of the test. The local prevalence (pi) will be estimated from each country that submits the number of patients who are HS positive according to the index test and clinical examination (n), and the corresponding total number of observations (N). CONCLUSION: The GHiSA Global Prevalence studies are currently running simultaneously in 58 countries across six continents (Africa, Europe, Australia, North America, South America, and Asia). The goal of the combined global proportion is the generation of a single summary (i.e., proportional meta-analysis), which will be done after a logit transformation, and synthesized using a random-effects model. The novel standardization of the Global Prevalence studies conducted through GHiSA enables direct international comparisons, which were previously not possible due to substantial heterogeneity in past HS prevalence studies.

Global consensus process to establish a core dataset for hidradenitis suppurativa registries.

BACKGROUND: Several registries for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) already exist in Europe and the USA. There is currently no global consensus on a core dataset (CDS) for these registries. Creating a global HS registry is challenging, owing to logistical and regulatory constraints, which could limit opportunities for global collaboration as a result of differences in the dataset collected. The solution is to encourage all HS registries to collect the same CDS of information, allowing registries to collaborate. OBJECTIVES: To establish a core set of items to be collected by all HS registries globally. The core set will cover demographic details, comorbidities, clinical examination findings, patient-reported outcome measures and treatments. METHODS: Beginning in September 2022, 20 participants - including both clinicians with expertise in HS and patient advocates - from eight countries across three continents participated in a Delphi process consisting of four rounds of voting, with all participants completing each round. A list of potential items for inclusion in the core set was generated from the relevant published literature, including systematic reviews of comorbidities in HS, clinical and examination findings, and epidemiology. For disease severity and progression items, the Hidradenitis SuppuraTiva Core outcome set International Collaboration (HiSTORIC) core set and other relevant instruments were considered for inclusion. This resulted in 47 initial items. Participants were invited to suggest additional items to include during the first round. Anonymous feedback was provided to inform each subsequent round of voting to encourage consensus. RESULTS: The eDelphi process established a CDS of 48 items recommended for inclusion in all HS registries globally. CONCLUSIONS: The routine adoption of this CDS in current and future HS registries should allow registries in different parts of the world to collaborate, enabling research requiring large numbers of participants.

Association of Moderate-Severe Atopic Dermatitis with Dental Anomalies.

Atopic dermatitis is a common inflammatory skin condition with an underlying pathophysiology that may have impact beyond the skin. Previous studies showed a higher prevalence of dental cavities in patients with atopic dermatitis. Our study aimed to establish an association of other dental anomalies in patients with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis. We prospectively recruited 15 patients with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis for a formal dental examination by a paediatric dentist. Hypodontia and microdontia were more prevalent in patients with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis as compared to reference populations and were statistically significant. Dental caries, enamel hypoplasia and agenesis of 3rd molars were also prevalent but did not reach statistical significance. Our study shows a novel finding of higher prevalence of dental anomalies in patients with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis which may warrant further investigation due to its clinical implications.

What causes hidradenitis suppurativa ?-15 years after.

The 14 authors of the first review article on hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) pathogenesis published 2008 in EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY cumulating from the 1st International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Research Symposium held March 30-April 2, 2006 in Dessau, Germany with 33 participants were prophetic when they wrote "Hopefully, this heralds a welcome new tradition: to get to the molecular heart of HS pathogenesis, which can only be achieved by a renaissance of solid basic HS research, as the key to developing more effective HS therapy." (Kurzen et al. What causes hidradenitis suppurativa? Exp Dermatol 2008;17:455). Fifteen years later, there is no doubt that the desired renaissance of solid basic HS research is progressing with rapid steps and that HS has developed deep roots among inflammatory diseases in Dermatology and beyond, recognized as "the only inflammatory skin disease than can be healed". This anniversary article of 43 research-performing authors from all around the globe in the official journal of the European Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation e.V. (EHSF e.V.) and the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc (HSF USA) summarizes the evidence of the intense HS clinical and experimental research during the last 15 years in all aspects of the disease and provides information of the developments to come in the near future.

Minoxidil 5% solution for topical treatment of loose anagen hair syndrome.

A 2-year-old girl with a diagnosis of loose anagen hair syndrome was treated with a tapering regime of minoxidil 5% solution over 28 months, resulting in quick, significant clinical improvement with no adverse effects.

Psoriasis and the eye: prevalence of eye disease in Singaporean Asian patients with psoriasis.

There is little published data on the incidence of eye disease in Asian patients with psoriasis. We determined the frequency of ocular complications in Singaporean Asian patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and related these to extent and severity of psoriasis, family history, treatment and presence of arthritis. A cross-sectional prevalence investigation was carried out in 100 patients who received a comprehensive eye examination. Psoriasis extent and severity was graded by the Lattice System Physician's Global Assessment (LS-PGA). Two patients (four eyes) had uveitis, one of whom had psoriatic arthritis (2% incidence). Presence or absence of uveitis correlated with mean LS-PGA scores. Sixty-three patients had cataract unrelated to previous steroid or phototherapy treatment; in younger (<50 years) patients they were commoner than in those with higher (>5) LS-PGA scores. Three eyes in two patients (2% prevalence) had glaucomatous optic neuropathy unrelated to previous treatment, and comparable with expected population frequency. These findings, although limited by lack of data from a comparable control population, suggest that eye complications are common in Asian patients with psoriasis and eye symptoms should be elicited during history taking. Besides signs and symptoms of eye disease, an LS-PGA score of more than 5 should prompt referral for ophthalmological examination.