Unveiling the Burden and Impact of Flares in Patients With Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: Results From the Adelphi Real World Disease Specific Program in Europe

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics, burden and impact of flares in patients with moderate-to-severe AD from both the physician and patient perspective in Europe.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey of physicians and their adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD in France, Germany and United Kingdom using data from the Adelphi AD Disease Specific Program™ conducted between Sept 2022 and July 2023. Patients were classified as either currently flaring or not based on physicians’ assessment. Baseline demographics; frequency, duration and severity of flares; associated signs, symptoms and impacts; and patient-reported outcome measures were summarized using descriptive statistical analyses.

RESULTS: A total of 278 physicians completed patient record forms for 707 patients (mean age: 35.7 years; 52% male; 87% white; mean disease duration: 7.5 years). Based on physician report 42% of patients were currently experiencing flare with majority of current flares classified as moderate (74%) or severe (23%). Most patients and physicians reported ≥2 flares experienced by patients in the past year (70% [96/138] and 63% [280/455]; mean number of flares: 3.6 and 2.2, respectively). The most common signs and symptoms experienced in ≥80% patients during current flare episode as reported by both physicians and patients were itching, skin pain, scratching, dry skin, scaling/scaly skin, with cracking/raw areas and sleep disturbance ≥80% reported by patients only. The mean scores of EuroQol 5-Dimension Visual-analog scale, Dermatology Life-Quality-Index and Patient-oriented Eczema-Measure in currently flaring were 70.4, 9.8 and 13.7 and in non-flaring were 74.3, 5.6 and 11.8, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The burden of flares and patient and physician perception of flares identified in this research highlights the importance of defining patient-centered measures of flares and developing new therapies to better address flares in patients with AD.