Quality of life in infants with atopic dermatitis and their families

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic inflammatory skin disease, with a significant effect on quality of life (QoL).

To evaluate the impact of AD on QoL of Montenegrin infants and their parents and to identify predictors affecting their QoL.

The cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2017 and July 2018 and included 186 infants with AD aged 0-4 years and their parents. The severity of disease was measured by the Three-Item Severity (TIS) score, while QoL was assessed with the Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index (IDQOL) and the Dermatitis Family Impact (DFI) questionnaire.

The mean overall scores were 14.72 for IDQOL and 17.78 for DFI. The positive correlation was observed between AD severity and both the IDQOL and DFI scores (r = 0.61, p < 0.001 and r = 0.67, p < 0.001, respectively). The highest-scoring IDQOL items were "itching and scratching", and "child's mood". Poorer infants' QoL was associated with more serious AD (B = 2.56; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.08-3.04), concomitant atopic disease (B = 3.86; 95% CI: 1.78-5.94), family history of atopic disease (B = 3.80; 95% CI: 1.84-5.77), older age of the child (B = 1.14; 95% CI: 0.20-2.07) and older age of the parent (B = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.04-0.53). Similarly, parents had poorer QoL if their infants had more severe AD (B = 2.56; 95% CI: 2.14-2.87), another atopic disease (B = 2.91; 95% CI: 0.99-4.84) or family history of atopic disease (B = 4.33; 95% CI: 2.57-6.09).

Our results demonstrate that AD has a significant negative impact on infants' QoL as well as on QoL of their parents.