Melanoma Registry of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (REGESMEL): Description and Data in its First Year of Operation. / Registro de Melanoma de la Academia Española de Dermatología y Venereología (REGESMEL): descripción y datos en el primer año de funcionamiento.

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of melanoma is rising in Spain. The prognostic stages of patients with melanoma are determined by various biological factors, such as tumor thickness, ulceration, or the presence of regional or distant metastases. The Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) has encouraged the creation of a Spanish Melanoma Registry (REGESMEL) to evaluate other individual and health system-related factors that may impact the prognosis of patients with melanoma. The aim of this article is to introduce REGESMEL and provide basic descriptive data for its first year of operation. METHODS: REGESMEL is a prospective, multicentre cohort of consecutive patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma that collects demographic and staging data as well as individual and healthcare-related baseline data. It also records the medical and surgical treatment received by patients. RESULTS: A total of 450 cases of invasive cutaneous melanoma from 19 participant centres were included, with a predominance of thin melanomas≤1mm thick (54.7%), mainly located on the posterior trunk (35.2%). Selective sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed in 40.7% of cases. Most cases of melanoma were suspected by the patient (30.4%), or his/her dermatologist (29.6%). Patients received care mainly in public health centers (85.2%), with tele-dermatology resources being used in 21.6% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of the pathological and demographic variables of melanoma cases is consistent with data from former studies. REGESMEL has already recruited patients from 15 Spanish provinces and given its potential representativeness, it renders the Registry as an important tool to address a wide range of research questions.

Influence of COVID-19 confinement on the size of malignant skin tumours surgically removed at a Spanish hospital.

The COVID-19 pandemic required people to confine themselves to their homes where possible, and disrupted normal hospital activities. We examine whether this lockdown generated changes in the size of the tumours. We compared the dimensions of the surgically removed malignant skin tumours from the first 150 patients treated after the confinement ended in Spain (22 May 2020) with those of the last 150 patients to receive such treatment before the confinement began (13 March 2020). Data on tumour surface area were collected from pathology reports. Overall, no significant difference was seen in the tumour sizes. However, among men, the tumours removed after confinement were significantly larger (P < 0.05). Controversy exists over how the reduction in the number of tumours diagnosed during lockdowns might have influenced the characteristics of tumours. In this study, no overall difference was seen in the size of the tumours removed, although those removed from men after confinement were larger.

[Cross-cultural adaptation and Spanish validation of Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire in dermatology (PSQ-18)]. / Validación y adaptación transcultural del cuestionario de satisfacción en Dermatología (PSQ-18).

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patient satisfaction has become one of the most important outcome measures of quality of care. This study aimed to present the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of a Spanish version of the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18) in a sample of Spanish dermatology patients. METHODS: Cross-cultural linguistic adaptation and translation-backtranslation processes were performed following accepted international guidelines. The psychometric properties, reliability and construct validity were evaluated with Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factorial analysis respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated in a test-retest study, which was conducted on randomly selected participants twice with a 14-21 days interval. RESULTS: 240 participants completed the cross-culturally adapted Spanish questionnaire agreed by the researchers. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.834) and confirmatory factorial analysis showed a good model fitting to the model proposed in the original version of the scale. The intraclass correlation coefficients for all the items on the questionnaire were higher than 0.8. CONCLUSIóN: PSQ-18 proved to be a valid and reliable instrument, with psychometric properties suitable for the assessment of satisfaction among dermatology patients.

Social Networks and Atopic Dermatitis: Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study. / Redes sociales y dermatitis atópica: estudio descriptivo transversal.

BACKGROUND: Social networks have become key tools for finding and disseminating medical information. OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of social network postings on atopic dermatitis, the content that is posted, and the number of followers of pages, groups, or accounts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We selected pages, groups, or accounts related to atopic dermatitis on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin during January and February of 2020. For each site, group, or account we recorded country of origin, year created, purpose, presence of links, provision of a contact email, and number of followers. We also analyzed the topics treated in recent content posts on the pages with the largest numbers of followers in each network. RESULTS: A total of 257 pages, groups, or accounts were included: Facebook, 171; Twitter, 59; and LinkedIn, 27. Facebook had the largest total number of pages and mean (SD) number of followers: 1416.71 (3722.63). Patient support groups accounted for most of the pages (63%), but businesses or product offers had more followers (P <.035). Of the 909 posts of informative content we analyzed, the most frequent topic was "general information about atopic dermatitis" (27.94%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show the importance of clearly defining the roles and limitations of social media platforms for designing future information campaigns and new patient-centered approaches to reaching patients with atopic dermatitis.

The use of systematic reviews in clinical trials and narrative reviews in dermatology: is the best evidence being used?

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Systematic reviews -the most comprehensive type of literature review-should be taken into account before a clinical trial or a narrative review on a topic is undertaken. The objective of this study was to describe the use of systematic reviews in clinical trials and narrative reviews in dermatology. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. We selected randomized clinical trials and narrative reviews from the dermatological clinical research journals identified as most important (according to impact factor) and from Actas Dermosifiliográficas, and studied the bibliographies to ascertain whether the authors made reference to existing systematic reviews and Cochrane reviews. RESULTS: Of the 72 clinical trials for which a systematic review was available, 24 (33.3%) cited at least 1 review; reference was made to relevant Cochrane reviews in 15.6% of cases and to non-Cochrane reviews in 32%. In the case of the 24 narrative reviews for which a review was available, 10 (41.7%) cited at least 1 review; Cochrane reviews were cited in 20% and non-Cochrane reviews in 35.3%.In the case of Actas Dermosifiliográficas, very few clinical trials were found and the findings for narrative review articles were similar to those observed for the other journals. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews are not often taken into account by the authors of clinical trials and narrative reviews and this may lead to redundant studies and publications. Authors appear to use Cochrane reviews even less than non-Cochrane reviews and are therefore ignoring one of the main sources of available evidence.

Refractory pyoderma gangrenosum treated with infliximab in an infant.

We report the case of an 11-month-old boy with severe recalcitrant pyoderma gangrenosum refractory to prednisone, dapsone and ciclosporin. Treatment with infliximab was well tolerated, and resulted in an excellent clinical response that has been sustained for 15 months. The characteristics of this condition in children and the use of infliximab in infants are both reviewed.

[Review and update of current understanding of childhood atopic dermatitis]. / Dermatitis atópica infantil: revisión y actualización.

Although childhood atopic dermatitis is reported throughout the world, it has become a health priority in developed countries, where its prevalence is particularly high. Despite extensive study for many years, various aspects of the disease are still subject to debate. This review will discuss the main studies published on the topic and update certain concepts such as the terminology used (the difference between atopic and atopiform), epidemiology, etiopathogenesis (molecular mechanisms, implicated genes, and environmental factors), assessment of severity, influence on the quality of life of the patients and their families, economic impact, and treatment.