Health-related quality of life, patient satisfaction, and adherence to treatment in patients with moderate or severe atopic dermatitis on maintenance therapy: the CONDA-SAT study

Objective: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQOL), patient satisfaction, and adherence to treatment in patients with moderate or severe atopic dermatitis on maintenance therapy.

Material and methods: We performed a national, multicenter, cross-sectional, epidemiological study in adults and children with moderate or severe atopic dermatitis of at least 16 months' duration who were receiving maintenance therapy. We used the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), the children's version of this scale (cDLQI), and the Morisky medication adherence scale. Visual analog scales were used to measure treatment satisfaction. We used the Mann-Whitney U test to compare HRQOL between patients with moderate and severe disease and the Wilcoxon test to compare the frequency and duration of flares before and after the start of maintenance therapy.

Results: We studied 141 children and 141 adults; the prevalence of moderate AD in these groups was 85.8% and 79.4%, respectively. The impact of AD on HRQOL was mild to moderate. Maintenance therapy led to a significant decrease in the frequency and duration of flares (P < .001). While treatment satisfaction was high in both groups, adherence was poor (18.4%-42.6% in children and 14.9%-27.0% in adults).

Conclusions: Patients with moderate and severe AD receiving maintenance therapy experience a reduction in the number and duration of flares and an improvement in HRQOL. While treatment satisfaction is high, adherence rates could be improved.