Advances in Assessing the Severity of Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing and pruritic inflammatory skin disorder. The prevalence of AD has been increasing significantly in recent decades, especially in developed nations. The pathogenesis of AD is still not completely understood. AD may be the results of interactions of abnormalities of immune system, genetics, environment and epidermal barrier defects. There is a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations in AD. Accordingly, there have been a number of methods and laboratory markers to assess the severity of AD. In spite of the facts that various severity assessing criteria and laboratory markers were reported or, more or less, applied, owing to the complexity of disease, race differences and environmental uncertainties, there is disagreement about the definitions and clinical application of these criteria or markers. Nevertheless, easy and quick assessing severity methods for AD are required to guide both the daily clinical and research studies. Here, we describe some recent advances in the assessment of the severity of AD.