EFA's 2018 European report Itching for Life: Quality of Life and costs for people living with severe atopic eczema in Europe uncovers the reality of atopic eczema, a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting 3% of adults and 20% of children in Europe, of which 1 in 5 lives with a severe condition. The results of EFA’s report arise from the biggest-ever Quality of Life (QoL) survey, and shake the prevailing vision on the effects atopic eczema has on patients’ lives.
The report was launched on the 1st European Atopic Eczema Awareness Day to draw attention to the consequences of atopic eczema symptoms that do not give a break. The survey was conducted according to Quality of Life (QoL) and economic impact survey methods. To measure quality of life and cost in a way that can be compared across countries, we used existing scientifically validated instruments. The emotional consequences atopic eczema has on patients were measured through a new validated tool developed by EFA. The Atopic Eczema Score of Emotional Consequences (AESEC©) takes into consideration items listed in other Quality of Life studies together with aspects frequently discussed by people with atopic eczema in social media. The items were intentionally reworded into positive and negative statements and were then checked by specialists in psychology, research and language. A questionnaire containing 37 items was pre-tested online in 5 EU-countries (n=100) to inform our selection of the most sensitive and reliable statements. The resulting validated AESEC © contains 28 items, based on reliability and inter-item correlation.
Report available in Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish