Disease awareness and management behavior of patients with atopic dermatitis: a questionnaire survey of 313 patients.

Background: Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) should be relatively well informed about the disorder to control their condition and prevent flare-ups. Thus far, there is no accurate information about the disease awareness levels and therapeutic behavior of AD patients.

Objective: To collect data on patients' knowledge about AD and their behavior in relation to seeking information about the disease and its treatment.

Methods: We performed a questionnaire survey on the disease awareness and self-management behavior of AD patients. A total of 313 patients and parents of patients with AD who had visited the The Catholic University of Korea, Catholic Medical Center between November 2011 and October 2012 were recruited. We compared the percentage of correct answers from all collected questionnaires according to the demographic and disease characteristics of the patients.

Results: Although dermatologists were the most frequent disease information sources and treatment providers for the AD patients, a significant proportion of participants obtained information from the Internet, which carries a huge amount of false medical information. A considerable number of participants perceived false online information as genuine, especially concerning complementary and alternative medicine treatments of AD, and the adverse effects of steroids. Some questions on AD knowledge had significantly different answers according to sex, marriage status, educational level, type of residence and living area, disease duration, disease severity, and treatment history with dermatologists.

Conclusion: Dermatologists should pay more attention to correcting the common misunderstandings about AD to reduce unnecessary social/economic losses and improve treatment compliance.