Prevalence and burden of atopic dermatitis involving the head, neck, face, and hand: A cross sectional study from the TARGET-DERM AD cohort.

Challenge

AD involving the head, neck, face, and hands—so-called difficult-to-treat sites—is associated with high visibility and psychosocial impact, but the real-world prevalence and HRQoL burden of AD at these anatomical locations had not been systematically quantified in a large US population spanning all age groups.

Solution

The TARGET-DERM AD cohort was used to estimate the prevalence of head, neck, face, and hand involvement among patients with moderate-to-severe AD and quantify the incremental HRQoL burden associated with involvement at these sites, using POEM and DLQI/CDLQI outcomes.

Impact

Establishing that 85% of moderate-to-severe AD patients have difficult-to-treat site involvement, which is independently associated with significantly worse QoL, provides the epidemiological and clinical meaningfulness evidence for trials and label claims specifically targeting AD at these high-impact anatomical locations.