Short-term and long-term effects of a clinical treatment and education program

The outpatient clinic dermatology/allergology of the UMC Utrecht provides multidisciplinary care for adult patients with atopic dermatitis. However, in a subgroup of patients with very severe and difficult to treat atopic dermatitis (AD) long-term remission cannot be reached with outpatient treatment. A clinical treatment-and education program has been developed for this group of patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the short and long term effects of our clinical treatment-and education program over a period of 3 years. Eczema severity was measured with the SASSAD score. The extend of eczema was determined with the rule of 9 (0-100%) (BSA: body surface area). In total, 126 patients with AD with 154 admissions were identified. In 105/126 patients there was one admission in the evaluation period: 21/126 patients (17%) had more than one admission within this period. The median duration of all 154 admissions was 11 days (IQR 9-14). There was a significant decrease of SASSAD score and BSA at the end of the admission compared to preadmission. SASSAD and BSA scores remained stable in the follow-up period after discharge. In conclusion, the clinical treatment and education program for adult patients with difficult to treat AD is effective in both the short-term and long-term in the majority of the patients.© 2014 De Nederlandse Vereniging voor Dermatologie en Venereologie.