Cost and quality of life in patients with severe chronic hand eczema refractory to standard therapy with topical potent corticosteroids

Abstract

Wellbeing and loss of productivity are the most important consequences in these patients. Appropriate treatment is necessary to improve patient health and productivity, which will contribute to reducing societal costs.

Chronic hand eczema: A prospective analysis of the Swiss CARPE registry focusing on factors associated with clinical and quality of life improvement

“…In agreement with a previous study showing that, in patients with HE, widespread eczema was a risk factor for a poor prognosis, an association of eczema on the wrists or feet with high PGA scores during the follow‐up of 2 years was noted. HE has been shown to have a strong impact on QoL . Interestingly, changes in HE severity and QoL are closely linked.…”

Clinical epidemiology of hand eczema in patients accessing dermatological reference centres: results from Italy

“…We also found that > 60% of patients with severe chronic hand eczema were refractory to standard therapy, around 11·0% of all patients with hand eczema. This result shows the relatively high presence of patients – of those with hand eczema accessing the dermatological reference centres to receive medical assistance – having a condition that is difficult to manage and related to severe impairment of quality of life, and high direct and indirect costs …”

Benefit-risk tradeoff preferences for chronic hand eczema treatments

“…Severe CHE (sCHE) may interfere with patients' daily activities and the long-term prognosis is poor (2,7,8). CHE has a significant negative impact on patient-reported quality of life, work productivity and daily functioning (7)(8)(9)(10)(11).…”

“…CHE has a significant negative impact on patient-reported quality of life, work productivity and daily functioning (7)(8)(9)(10)(11). The impact of CHE on work life may vary depending on the nature of the patient's occupation (9,12,13).…”

“…The psychosocial repercussions of CHE can be significant, contributing to anxiety, depression and other negative mental health effects in patients (7,17). Impacts of CHE on quality of life have been found to be similar to or slightly worse than those experienced by patients with treatment-refractory moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (8).…”