The quantitative impact of atopic dermatitis on caregivers across multiple life domains.

Abstract

Dear Editor, Family caregivers are essential to the wellbeing of individuals with chronic health conditions. However, they often experience psychological, behavioural and physiological effects that can contribute to impaired immune system function, coronary heart disease and even increased risk of mortality.1,2 Prior studies on caregiving in atopic dermatitis (AD) have focused on specific domains and caregivers of children with AD.3,4 We sought to examine the impact of caring for both paediatric and adult patients with AD across multiple domains using data from a survey developed by patient advocacy groups as part of a Food and Drug Administration patient‐focused drug development initiative fielded online in 2019. Patient responses and qualitative analyses from open‐ended caregiver responses are published separately.5,6 We examined two measures of caregiver impact: (i) an overall impact score in response to the question ‘On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being ‘no impact’ and 5 being ‘significant impact’), how much have the person’s AD symptoms negatively impacted your own life over the past month?’; and (ii) subdomain impact scores using the same question focused on each of 13 life subdomains (sleep, diet, physical activity, life decisions, family dynamics, family responsibilities, leisure activities, ability to concentrate, stress, self‐confidence, work responsibilities, social relationships and intimate relationships). We then used ordinal regression models to evaluate how patient characteristics, comorbid conditions, severity of AD and treatment characteristics associated with the overall impact of AD for caregivers (Table 1). After checking for multicollinearity, variables found to be significant (P < 0·05) in univariable models were included in a multivariable model.