Do we need another symptom score for childhood eczema

AbstractAim: It is important to objectively measure the severity of atopic dermatitis (AD). This study aims to investigate correlations among various clinical severity scores and determine how a severity score based on symptoms alone performs.Methods: A Chinese-translated symptom score based on Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM, a short-term subjective-symptom score), Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD, a short-term subjective-symptom and objective-sign score), Nottingham Eczema Severity Score (NESS, a long-term subjective symptoms + objective signs), Children Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI, a short-term subjective-symptom score), skin hydration (SH) and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were compared and Spearman’s rho correlations was evaluated.Results: 126 sets of clinical scores from eczema patients (mean age: 11.4 ± 5.6 years; 34.7% male) were evaluated. The modified-POEM, objective SCORAD, NESS and CDLQI correlated well with each other. All round, best correlations were obtained with POEM: ...