OBJECTIVES: To identify the most important determinants of quality of life (QoL) for adults with Atopic Dermatitis (AD) and for the parents of children with AD. METHODS: The QoLIAD is a 25-item needs-based instrument assessing QoL in adults with AD. The PIQoL-AD is a 28-item instrument assessing the QoL of parents who have children with AD. These questionnaires have a simple ‘Yes'/‘No' response option and scores range from zero to 25/28. Data collected in a six-month, multinational, open-label study were analysed using Stepwise Multiple Regression. Demographic, symptom and disease-related variables were included in the analyses. RESULTS: A total of 319 AD patients completed the QoLIAD (mean 37.8 years) and 182 parents of children with AD completed the PIQoL-AD (mean age of child = 7.4). Regression analyses for the QoLIAD identified five variables; how unhappy/depressed flare-ups make them feel, performance at work, number of nights woken during flare-up, percentage of body affected and age. These five variables accounted for 27.2% of the variance in patients' reported quality of life (p <0.0001). For the PIQoL-AD 32.9% of the variance (p <0.0001) was accounted for by seven variables; number of nights woken during flare-up, number of days child misses school, performance at work, age of child, how unhappy/depressed their child's flare-ups make them feel, number of flare-ups per year and total time spent with a flare-up each year. Specific symptoms such as swelling, itch and redness did not contribute significantly to either model. CONCLUSION: These results reveal that the QoL of adults with AD and the parents of children who have AD are influenced by a number of similar factors. A focus on the symptoms of AD would omit important influences on QoL.