Maintenance Tacrolimus for Eczema Boosts Quality of Life
Key clinical point: Twice-weekly proactive application of topical tacrolimus in adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis not only reduces flares, it dramatically improves patients’ self-rated quality of life.
Major finding: Mean scores on the Dermatology Life Quality Index in patients on maintenance therapy improved from 8.7 at baseline to 2.7 at 12 months, indicative of minimal disease impact upon daily life.
Data source: This was a 41-site, two-nation study involving 214 adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.
Disclosures: The study was sponsored by Astellas. The presenter is a consultant to the company.
AT THE EADV CONGRESS
In other outcomes, patients reported that it took a mean of 35 and median of 27 days on twice-daily therapy to become free of atopic dermatitis.
“This is helpful information for us in telling new patients what to expect. They come in really hoping to be free of eczema after 2 days. If we inform them it will take several weeks they’ll probably be more adherent to therapy,” Dr. Holm said.
Once patients became clear or almost clear and switched to twice weekly maintenance therapy, they stayed that way for an average of 61 days.
Self-reported patient compliance with the maintenance regimen was excellent. Patients indicated they applied topical tacrolimus a median of two times per week. They also utilized emolliants an average of once per day or more, as physicians had encouraged. Patients didn’t report any adverse events on their questionnaires.
An interesting study finding was that even though 52% of patients had atopic dermatitis on the face -- the most visible and highly charged of all locations -- 75% of patients indicated the biggest difficulty posed by their skin disease was its itchiness, not its adverse impact on their appearance.
“This is what I find in my own daily practice, too. Patients come in and say, ‘Please give me a drug to remove my daily itch and I will be satisfied,’” according to Dr. Holm.
The study was sponsored by Astellas Pharma. Dr. Holm is a consultant to the company.
