Itch, sleep loss, depressive symptoms, fatigue, and productivity loss in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis: Analyses of TREATgermany registry data

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
  • Practice Dr. med. Magnus Bell
  • Hautmedizin Bad Soden
  • Practice Dr. Med. Christiane Handrick
  • Practice Dr. med. Andrea Asmussen
  • University Hospital Duesseldorf
  • Practice Dr. med. Sung-Hei Hong-Weldemann
  • University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Practice Dr. med. Thomas Schaefer/ Dr. med. Doreen Belz
  • Practice Dr. Med. Beate Schwarz
  • Practice Dr. med. Franca Wiemers
  • Practice Dr. med. Jens-Joachim Brücher
  • Helix Medical Ecellence Center Mainz
  • Technical University of Munich
  • Practice Dr. Med. Konstantin Ertner
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • University Hospital at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Elbe Clinics Stade/Buxtehude
  • Bielefeld University
  • University Hospital Heidelberg
  • Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich
  • Company for Medical Study and Service Selters
  • Hannover Medical School (MHH)
  • Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: TREATgermany is a multicenter registry including patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) from currently 74 study centers (university clinics, hospitals and practices) in Germany. As of August 31, 2021, 1,230 adult patients were enrolled.

METHODS: In TREATgermany, patients and physicians fill in questionnaires pertaining to symptoms, disease severity, quality of life, depressiveness, and fatigue. In particular, limitations in work performance are assessed using the Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ). To assess associations between occupational performance/work limitations and symptoms, correlations and regression models were calculated.

RESULTS: The examined sample of 228 employed patients reported an average of 6% at-work productivity loss within the past two weeks prior to enrolment in the registry. The WLQ productivity loss score was moderately associated with itch (r = 0.32) and sleep loss (r = 0.39) and strongly associated with depressive symptoms (r = 0.68) and fatigue (r = 0.60).

CONCLUSIONS: The analyses of the registry data show that moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis has a negative impact on the work productivity of the patients. The analyses further point out the relevant associations between work productivity, depressive symptoms, and fatigue highlighting the disease burden caused by the psychological components of AD.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1157-1168
Number of pages12
JournalJDDG - Journal of the German Society of Dermatology
Volume21
Issue number10
Early online date23 Jul 2023
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85165579261
Mendeley acaead4f-de9f-3298-905d-4ea960b18473
ORCID /0000-0001-7457-6481/work/142246230
ORCID /0000-0002-4049-9120/work/142248606
PubMed 37485573

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Atopic dermatitis, productivity loss, registry, work limitations, Severity of Illness Index, Fatigue/epidemiology, Humans, Routinely Collected Health Data, Dermatitis, Atopic/diagnosis, Sleep, Depression/epidemiology, Quality of Life, Adult, Pruritus/etiology

Library keywords