Determining the minimal important change of the recap of atopic eczema (RECAP) instrument in clinical trials.

Background: The Recap of atopic eczema (RECAP) is a patient-reported instrument designed to assess eczema control. There is a lack of evidence on the interpretability of change scores in clinical trials.

Objectives: To calculate the smallest detectable change (SDC) in RECAP and estimate the minimal important change (MIC) for RECAP using various calculation methods in three eczema clinical trial datasets.

Barriers to diagnosing and treating vulval lichen sclerosus: a survey study.

Background  Vulval lichen sclerosus (VLS) is a chronic inflammatory condition that is frequently misdiagnosed and under-recognised. To date, qualitative research focuses on lived experience of VLS, with women attributing diagnostic delay to poor interactions with health care professionals (HCPs) often due to lack of knowledge. In the UK, women with VLS are most likely to present to primary care.

Practicality, Validity, and Responsiveness of Using the Proxy Version of the Child Health Utility-9 Dimensions With Children Aged 2 to 5 Years.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the practicality, validity, and responsiveness of the proxy Child Health Utility-9 Dimensions (CHU9D) in children aged 2 to 5 years.

Methods: We used data from the Barrier Enhancement for Eczema Prevention trial, a UK randomized controlled trial testing whether daily emollients in infancy could prevent eczema in high-risk infants. The main parent/carer completed the proxy CHU9D using developers' additional guidance for completion in those younger than 5 years and the Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) at ages 2, 3, 4, and 5 years.

A Case Series of Refractory Pediatric Atopic Dermatitis Effectively Treated With Dupilumab in Combination With Abrocitinib.

Children with severe atopic dermatitis (AD), refractory to conventional systemic treatment as well as single-agent biologic and Janus kinase inhibitor (JAKi) such as abrocitinib, currently face a lack of treatment options. In response to this clinical conundrum, we present three cases of severe and refractory pediatric AD successfully managed with combined dupilumab and abrocitinib. These children had exhausted all conventional treatments and had undergone treatment with both dupilumab and abrocitinib individually, as well as dupilumab in conjunction with methotrexate.

Expert opinion on characteristics of vulval LS: initial identification of important clinical features through an international electronic-Delphi consensus study.

Background: Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory condition mainly affecting genital skin. It causes distressing symptoms that impact daily quality of life as well as progressive anatomical changes and potential risk of cancer. Vulval LS is often misdiagnosed and treatment delayed.

Remote Assessment of Eczema Severity via AI-powered Skin Image Analytics: A Systematic Review.

Various studies have been published on the remote assessment of eczema severity from digital camera images. Successful deployment of an accurate and robust AI-powered tool for such purposes can aid the formulation of eczema treatment plans and assist in patient monitoring. This review aims to provide an overview of the quality of published studies on this topic and to identify challenges and suggestions to improve the robustness and reliability of existing tools.

The Eczema Area and Severity Index: An update of progress and challenges in its measurement of atopic dermatitis after 20 years of use.

The Eczema Area and Severity Index is an investigator-assessed instrument reporting clinical signs of atopic dermatitis. The instrument is extensively validated in both adult and paediatric populations and recommended as a core outcome measure to assess clinical signs by the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema initiative in clinical trials and was recently recommended as an option to measure signs in clinical practice. Here, we review the validation of the instrument using standard assessment criteria, explore controversies and challenges to its universal applicability and highlight future electronic adaptations.

Capturing and reporting topical treatment use in childhood eczema: lessons for data collection in eczema trials.

Background: Emollients and topical corticosteroids (TCS) prevent and treat flares in eczema. However, topical treatment use is poorly recorded and reported in clinical trials. There is no clear consensus of how best to capture and summarise topical treatment use.

Educational and psychological interventions for managing atopic dermatitis (eczema).

Background: Atopic dermatitis (eczema), can have a significant impact on well-being and quality of life for affected people and their families. Standard treatment is avoidance of triggers or irritants and regular application of emollients and topical steroids or calcineurin inhibitors. Thorough physical and psychological assessment is central to good-quality treatment.

"Application of five different strategies to define a cohort of patients with knee osteoarthritis in a large primary care database".

Background: Electronic health records (EHR) are frequently used for epidemiological research including drug utilisation studies in a defined population such as the population with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). We sought to describe the process of defining a cohort of patients with KOA from a large UK primary care database and estimate the annual incidence of diagnosed KOA between 2000 and 2015.

Method: This was a retrospective study using data from the clinical practice research datalink (CPRD).

Prevalence and risk factors for milk allergy overdiagnosis in the BEEP trial cohort.

Background: Cow's milk allergy (CMA) overdiagnosis in young children appears to be increasing and has not been well characterised. We used a clinical trial population to characterise CMA overdiagnosis and identify individual-level and primary care practice-level risk factors.

Methods: We analysed data from 1394 children born in England in 2014-2016 (BEEP trial, ISRCTN21528841).