Objective: To determine the attitude of adult patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) to their disease and its treatment.
Material and methods: A multicenter, cross-sectional study was performed in patients with at least 2 outbreaks of AD in the previous year.
Results: Two hundred twenty-seven dermatologists recruited 1441 analyzable patients, the majority women, with a mean of 3.6 outbreaks per year. Most of the patients (97.2%) indicated that they always or sometimes requested medical evaluation of a new outbreak. In the most recent outbreak, 72.2% had used combined therapy, regardless of the severity of the episode; 2-drug combinations were the most common. The majority of dermatologists prescribed combined therapy, most commonly a 2-drug combination for mild or minimal disease, and 3 or more drugs for moderate to very severe outbreaks.
Conclusions: Treatments used by patients for an outbreak of AD are similar to those prescribed by dermatologists in recent outbreaks.