ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Topical corticosteroid (TCS) phobia may negatively impact treatment adherence. Currently, there are few studies exploring trust and knowledge of TCS use among pharmacy staff. OBJECTIVE: To examine TCS knowledge and possible phobia among Danish pharmacy staff. METHODS: A questionnaire, based on Topical Corticosteroid Phobia (TOPICOP©) questionnaire, was developed and rephrased to fit pharmacy staff. The questions were Likert scales and numerical rating scales (NRS) (0-10). In October/November 2021, 64 pharmacies were invited. If the pharma-cies agreed to participate, a researcher visited the pharmacies and distributed the questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 244 pharmacy workers from 59 pharmacies participated. The majority (95.4%) responded that they were aware of side effects of TCS, however misconceptions regarding side ef-fects was found in up to 34% of participants. Regarding TCS use, 40% sometimes advised the pa-tients to wait as long as possible before initiating treatment with TCS. Confidence in dispensing TCS to patients was high with a mean of 8.45 (NRS). CONCLUSION: Danish pharmacy staff generally reported high confidence in TCS use. Misconcep-tions regarding side effects were common, and there was a tendency to giving advices on TCS treatment that may indicate low confidence in TCS. Thorough education of pharmacy staff is needed to improve the knowledge of TCS.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The international classification of diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) includes several unvalidated diagnostic codes for hand eczema (HE). Knowledge is sparse on HE patient characteristics. OBJECTIVES: To validate selected HE ICD-10 codes in the Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR) and describe disease characteristics, lifestyle factors and medication use in adult HE patients. METHODS: Nineteen HE ICD-10 codes were selected and validated based on patient charts. Five cohorts were constructed based on the diagnostic code, DL30.8H (HE unspecified), in the DNPR: (i) patients with DL30.8H code (n = 8386), (ii) patients with DL30.8H code, but without atopic dermatitis (AD) (n = 7406), (iii) sex- and age-matched general population (n = 8386) without HE. Two additional cohorts nested in the DNPR included participants from the Danish Skin Cohort, (iv) patients with DL30.8H code but without AD (n = 1340) and (v) general population cohort (n = 9876). RESULTS: ICD-10 codes revealed positive predictive values ≥90% except irritant contact dermatitis (unspecified) (79.7%) and hyperkeratotic hand and foot eczema (84.1%). HE patients were most often women, middle-aged or older, of Danish ethnicity, had an atopic medical history and were smokers. Topical corticosteroid prescriptions were almost doubled in HE cohorts compared to general populations. CONCLUSION: We validated several HE ICD-10 codes and identified important HE patient characteristics.
Subject(s)
Dermatitis, Allergic Contact , Dermatitis, Atopic , Eczema , Adult , Middle Aged , Humans , Female , Cross-Sectional Studies , Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/epidemiology , Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/etiology , Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/diagnosis , Eczema/drug therapy , Eczema/epidemiology , Eczema/diagnosis , Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy , Dermatitis, Atopic/epidemiology , Dermatitis, Atopic/diagnosis , Registries , Demography , Denmark/epidemiologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Hand eczema severity index (HECSI) is a widely used tool for assessment of hand eczema (HE) severity. Generally, HECSI has been used by health care providers, and a validation of the HECSI tool when used by patients is lacking. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the construct validity and reliability of HECSI as a tool for patients based on comparison to HECSI assessments by physicians. METHODS: Patients with HE, enrolled from the dermatological outpatient clinic, Bispebjerg Hospital, assessed HE severity with a patient version of HECSI (patient-HECSI). Afterwards, HECSI was assessed by a trained physician (physician-HECSI). RESULTS: This study found a strong correlation and very good absolute agreement between patient-HECSI and physician-HECSI assessments with a correlation coefficient of 0.756 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.844. Cronbach's alpha was 0.861 indicating very good internal consistency. CONCLUSION: With a strong construct validity and reliability, the patient-HECSI may be used by patients as a patient-reported outcome assessing their personal HE severity.
