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Review
. 2023 Sep 29;10(10):1629.
doi: 10.3390/children10101629.

Atopic Dermatitis in Italian Pre-School Children: Literature Review of Epidemiological Data with a Focus on Disease Prevalence and Severity

Iria Neri  1 , Carlotta Galeone  2 , Claudio Pelucchi  3 , Gianluca Ronci  4 , Paolo Matruglio  4 , Maria Paola Pedone  4 , Elena Galli  5
Affiliations
Review

Atopic Dermatitis in Italian Pre-School Children: Literature Review of Epidemiological Data with a Focus on Disease Prevalence and Severity

Iria Neri et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common diseases worldwide. Severe AD has a major impact on the quality of life of patients. We performed a systematic literature review on the epidemiology of AD in Italian pre-school children (age 0-5 years) and we assessed the available data on the severity of AD. In August 2022, we performed a bibliographic search using PubMed/Medline and EMBASE. We identified 10 studies with Italian data on the prevalence and/or incidence of AD in pre-school children. The period (12 months) prevalence of AD varied widely across studies, ranging between 4.0% and 42.2%, with median estimates of 14.3% among all studies and 11.8% among studies from 2010 onwards. Applied to the Italian population, this leads to a prevalence of 309,000-375,000 pre-school AD cases. Only one study computed the incidence of AD, reporting rates of 9 cases per 100 person-years in children aged 0-1 year, and 2.5 cases per 100 person-years in children aged 1-4 years. Severity data from Italy were also reviewed, across three identified three studies. A point estimate found 8.4% of cases were considered severe in one study based on the Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), with an overall range of 7.8-11% across different Italian studies and according to various severity score types.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis; epidemiology; incidence; pre-school children; prevalence; review; severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

G.R., P.M. and M.P.P. are Sanofi employees and may hold shares and/or stock options in the company. Other authors certify that there are no conflicts of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Search and selection of epidemiological studies on atopic dermatitis in Italian pre-school children.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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