Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME). Report from the First International Consensus Meeting (HOME 1), 24...

Current clinical research in eczema (atopic dermatitis) is hampered by a profusion of outcome measures, most of which have not been developed or tested adequately. The first Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema meeting (HOME 1) was an exploratory meeting to determine whether there was sufficient interest and enthusiasm in the international scientific community to form a collaborative group to define a minimum set of core outcomes for future eczema (atopic dermatitis) research. The meeting was open to all participants of the 6th Georg Rajka Symposium/International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis/New Trends in Allergy VII meeting in Munich, 22-24 July 2010. Approximately 40 individuals attended. Prior to the meeting, an international Delphi exercise was performed to develop consensus-based sets of core outcome domains for eczema for 'controlled trials' and 'clinical recordkeeping'. The results of this Delphi exercise were presented at the meeting and critically discussed by the attendees. The constructive group discussion identified several important issues for future eczema outcomes research such as the degree to which patients and carers can be involved and the importance of involving colleagues from countries not represented at the meeting. In summary, this exploratory meeting indicated a genuine interest in the academic eczema community to form an international multiprofessional group dedicated to harmonizing outcomes research in eczema. The group decided to continue collaboratively with the HOME initiative.