Atopic dermatitis: impact on quality of life and patients' attitudes toward its management.

This work studies atopic dermatitis in the following terms: impact on patients' life; patients' satisfaction and attitudes toward topical pharmacological treatment and medical recommendations (regarding hygienic and preventive strategies) and patients' and dermatologists' impressions of severity at the moment of consultation. To this end, an epidemiological, multicentre, cross-sectional study was carried out. In total, 191 dermatologists collected data from 322 patients (163 children, 159 adults). Poor agreement between specialists' and patients' criteria was found and patients with higher severity of affectation showed higher impacts on sleep/rest, emotional and school/ professional fulfillment (p<0.001). Moreover, reported compliance with pharmacological treatment and medical recommendations was high but patients' satisfaction with these recommendations was lower than with respect to pharmacological treatment. These results highlight that although reported compliance was high, there were still non-compliance attitudes and concerns about treatments that should be answered. Finally, a significant impact on patients' life was confirmed.