Effect of Therapeutic Patient Education in Adults with Atopic Dermatitis: Analysis of Efficacy and Treatment Needs.

Abstract

In the era of biological treatments and small molecules, this study assessed therapeutic patient education (TPE) in managing adult atopic dermatitis (AD), focusing on disease severity, quality of life, and the use of systemic treatments. This multicentre study included 260 adult AD patients, with 184 undergoing a full TPE programme and 76 control patients. Evaluations included disease severity, quality of life (DLQI), and systemic treatment use. The primary goal was to measure AD improvement, with secondary goals assessing DLQI score changes and systemic treatment use. AD severity improved in 64.7% of TPE patients vs 45.7% of controls (p = 0.008). The mean DLQI score dropped by 5.7 points in the TPE group vs 2.4 points in controls (p = 0.006). Additionally, 69.8% of TPE patients had a DLQI score ≤ 4/30 compared with 50% of controls (p = 0.025). Regarding therapeutics, 83.6% of patients naive to systemic treatment at inclusion were maintained exclusively under topical treatment vs 21.7% in the control group. The likelihood of needing systemic treatment was 66% in controls vs 6% in the TPE group. TPE enhances AD severity and quality of life, ensures better disease control, and reduces systemic treatment use, highlighting its importance in managing adult AD.