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Observational Study
. 2015 Sep 11:15:17.
doi: 10.1186/s12895-015-0036-8.

Adherence to drug treatments and adjuvant barrier repair therapies are key factors for clinical improvement in mild to moderate acne: the ACTUO observational prospective multicenter cohort trial in 643 patients

Raúl de Lucas  1 , Gerardo Moreno-Arias  2 , Montserrat Perez-López  3 , Ángel Vera-Casaño  4 , Sonia Aladren  5 , Massimo Milani  6 ; ACTUO Investigators study group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Observational Study

Adherence to drug treatments and adjuvant barrier repair therapies are key factors for clinical improvement in mild to moderate acne: the ACTUO observational prospective multicenter cohort trial in 643 patients

Raúl de Lucas et al. BMC Dermatol. .

Abstract

Background: In acne, several studies report a poor adherence to treatments. We evaluate, in a real-life setting conditions, the impact of compliance to physician's instructions, recommendations and adherence to the treatments on clinical outcome in patients with mild to moderate acne in an observational, non-interventional prospective study carried out in 72 Dermatologic Services in Spain (ACTUO Trial).

Methods: Six-hundred-forty-three subjects were enrolled and 566 patients (88 %) completed the 3 study visits. Study aimed to evaluate the impact of adherence (assessed with ECOB scale) on clinical outcome, as well as how the use of specific adjuvant treatments (facial cleansing, emollient, moisturizing and lenitive specific topical products) influences treatment's adherence and acne severity (0-5 points score). Recommendation of specific adjuvant skin barrier repair products was made in 85.2 %.

Results: Overall, clinical improvement was observed throughout follow-up visits with an increased proportion of patients who reported reductions of ≥50 % on the total number of lesions (2 months: 25.2 %; 3 months: 57.6 %) and reductions of severity scores (2.5, 2.0 and 1.3 at 1, 2 and 3 months after treatment, respectively). Adherence to treatment was associated with a significant reduction on severity grading, a lower number of lesions and a higher proportion of patients with ≥50 % improvement.

Conclusions: Good adherence to medication plus adherence to adjuvants was significantly associated with a higher clinical improvement unlike those that despite adherence with medication had a low adherence to adjuvants. A good adherence to adjuvant treatment was associated with improved adherence and better treatment outcomes in mild to moderate acne patients. (ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN14257026).

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Evolution of acne severity score in the ACTUO study population as a whole
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Patients with Acne improvement ≥50 % and regarding adherence to pharmacological and compliance with adjuvant treatments
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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