Relationship between quality of life and disease severity in atopic dermatitis/eczema syndrome during childhood.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Atopic dermatitis is a chronic relapsing itchy disease that has an effect on children and families' quality of life. The purpose of this review is to give workers in the field an easy-to-read, up-to-date and accessible summary of recent advances in the relationship between quality of life and disease severity in atopic dermatitis/eczema syndrome during childhood. This review, however, concentrates on original articles that have been published since 1 April 2002, and reports a relationship between disease severity and quality of life scores in childhood atopic dermatitis. RECENT FINDINGS: It has been shown that childhood atopic dermatitis has a major impact on children and families' quality of life. Researchers also reported that scores on quality of life and disease severity were positively correlated at a point in time and over a period of time. They also showed that children and quality of life measures have improved after medical interference. SUMMARY: Despite the limitation of the studies reviewed, it is logical to conclude that childhood atopic dermatitis has affected children and families' quality of life. These studies have also reported that disease severity and quality of life are correlated in childhood atopic dermatitis at a point in time and over time. However, these aspects should be studied further in order to evaluate the long-term impact of the disease and its variation during childhood. Disease severity and quality of life should be measured independently.