Prevalence and associations of fatigue in childhood atopic dermatitis: A cross-sectional study

Fatigue is a symptom that can negatively impact patients' quality of life. However, the relationship of AD with fatigue has not been fully studied, especially in children.

To determine the prevalence of fatigue in AD patients, and whether AD severity, demographics and comorbidities are associated with increased fatigue in children.

A cross-sectional observational study was performed among 248 children with AD. Paediatric patients (ages 8-17 years) and parents (of children ages 0-17 years) completed a questionnaire, including demographics, history of atopic comorbidities and validated severity measures of AD, itch, pain, sleep disturbance, sleep-related impairment and fatigue. AD severity was also assessed by clinician-reported Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI), Scoring AD (SCORAD) and Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA). Fatigue was assessed using Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pediatric Fatigue T-score.

Most children with AD had no (38.6%) or mild (32.1%) fatigue, with fewer having moderate (27.2%) or severe (2%) fatigue. Moderate/severe PROMIS Pediatric fatigue T-scores were increased with moderate (25.7%/1.4%) and severe (39.3%/5.4%) IGA vs. mild IGA (18.0%/0.0%) and those with 5-6 (44.4%/0.0%) and 7 (44.2%/5.2%) nights of SD from eczema. Moderate-severe PROMIS Pediatric Fatigue T-scores were associated with history of hay fever (adjusted OR [95% Cl]: 2.803 [1.395-5.632]) and family income (<$100,000: 3.049 [1.294-7.181]), but inversely with Black (0.40 [0.168-0.969]) and AAPI (0.285 [0.094-0.859]) race. In multivariable regression models controlling for demographic factors, PROMIS Pediatric Fatigue T-score was significant with more severe scores for IGA, POEM, EASI, SCORAD, NRS-itch, SCORAD-itch, average itch in the past 7 days, PROMIS Pediatric Pain severity, PROMIS Pediatric SD, PROMIS Pediatric SRI, SCORAD-sleep and more frequent SD from AD.

Fatigue is a common yet underappreciated symptom in children with AD, particularly those with moderate-severe AD, and warrants more attention in clinical practice and trials.